Sunday Retail News Roundup

Sunday January 3rd 2016

Ailing Debenhams woos ex-Kingfisher chief for chairman, M&S loyalty card chief fired over racism claim, Shoe queen flees Manhattan HQ, Jobs under threat Brantano shoes, And the winner is Amazon, Store wars hot up Aldi to open 80 new supermarkets to fight Big Four, Duchy Original deal boosts Prince of Wales' charities by ￡3m, Next and M&S first victims of retail's toughest year, Holland & Barrett gears up ￡1bn sale, Jaeger sell-off pulled bids fail to match asking price, Sports Direct property boss is ex-nightclub promoter.

Sunday Times.

Debenhams is braced for another boardroom shake-up that could see its chairman replaced with the former boss of Kingfisher. Sir Ian Cheshire, who stepped down a year ago as chief executive of the DIY conglomerate behind B&Q and Screwfix, is in talks to succeed Nigel Northridge at the helm of the struggling department store chain. Debenhams has been under pressure from some of its biggest shareholders over its lacklustre performance. Michael Sharp, the chief executive, has already announced his intention to leave. Debenhams could use its annual meeting on January 14 to confirm the departure of Northridge, who made his name selling the cigarette and cigar maker Gallaher Group to Japan Tobacco in 2007. Sources stressed that nothing had yet been agreed with Cheshire. Since leaving Kingfisher, the 56-year-old has repeatedly said he would prefer to take another executive role rather than a chairmanship. Whether he becomes executive or non-executive chairman of Debenhams could prove a sticking point. In September the stockbroker Cenkos was sounding out the store’s top shareholders about a boardroom coup. It was working on behalf of Debenhams’ three biggest backers — including Schroders — although it is not clear whether the same shareholders are involved in the latest push to bring in Cheshire. Debenhams has faltered since it returned to the stock market in 2006 after a controversial period of private equity ownership. CVC, Merrill Lynch and TPG oversaw cost-cutting and the sale-and-leaseback of its best stores, more than tripling their money when it floated. Shares in the debt-laden business, which has 160 British stores, were sold at 195p at the time. They closed at 73.25p last week, having trodden water last year. Hit by disastrous trading in 2013, when it issued two profit warnings and parted ways with its finance director, Debenhams has tried to wean itself off a diet of promotions and special offers. When Sharp announced his departure in October, saying he had always planned to serve five years, he said it was “quite clear the strategy is working”. Pre-tax profits rose 7.3% to ￡113.5m for the year to August. Debenhams is expected to report flat or slightly positive Christmas sales next Tuesday. One analyst said Sharp would be “moving heaven and earth to avoid looking like a complete numpty”. Frustration at the department store’s lack of direction has grown in the City. More than a year ago, some big shareholders are believed to have approached Mike Shearwood, who was then boss of Karen Millen, to see whether he was interested in replacing Sharp. The talks did not lead to anything. Cheshire won plaudits for navigating Kingfisher through the changing retail environment. He serves as the top business figure advising Whitehall. Last year he was mooted as a candidate to chair Tesco but withdrew because he wanted another executive role.

Marks & Spencer has fired the head of its new loyalty scheme for allegedly using racist language. Suzanna Broer, a rising star who joined M&S from the Dutch retailer Albert Heijn in 2014, was sacked on the grounds of gross misconduct in mid-November less than a month after the Sparks reward card was launched with great fanfare. Although she was tipped for the top, M&S boasted of her inclusion in the list of the top female bosses under 35, her departure was not announced because she did not sit on the board. She has been replaced by Nathan Ansell, previously head of marketing for M&S food. The incident is another blow to Marc Bolland, M&S’s boss, as the retailer prepares to reveal on Thursday a drop of up to 5% in clothing sales over the Christmas period — although an insider emphasised that Broer’s ousting was not related to the weak trading. Her departure adds to the problem of management churn at M&S. Several senior figures have left in recent years, including Jan Heere, head of international, and John Dixon, head of clothing. M&S said it would not comment on an individual case. But in a statement it said: “Marks & Spencer does not tolerate any form of discrimination in the workplace.” A source said it had acted as soon as an allegation was made that Broer had used racist language at work. She is understood to have been dismissed after a thorough investigation. Broer did not respond to requests for comment. It is not known if she denies the allegation. M&S poached the Dutch national from Albert Heijn to develop its Sparks loyalty scheme. The card, launched in October, promises members access to food and drink masterclasses and personalised special offers. While M&S’s food business has performed well in a tough market, Bolland has so far failed to turn around its ailing general merchandise division. The consensus among analysts is that M&S fashion sales fell 2% in the Christmas quarter, with flat food sales. However, Japanese bank Nomura has predicted a 5.5% fall in clothing sales. Despite the warm weather, anything like that number would be dismal given a soft year-on-year comparison. M&S’s general merchandise sales slumped last Christmas after it was hit by distribution problems. Bolland is likely to balance the bad news by stressing the improvement to profit margins achieved through tougher sourcing. On Tuesday, M&S’s rival Next is expected to emerge as one of the few high street winners over Christmas. Analysts predict a rise of about 3% in own-brand sales for the quarter.

Tamara Mellon’s fashion company is to quit its chic Madison Avenue headquarters as part of a plan to emerge from bankruptcy in America. Mellon rose to fame at Jimmy Choo, which she helped to build into a global fashion brand before selling out four years ago. She set up a new company, named after her, two years ago after securing backing from a stable of wealthy individuals. It set up shop in Manhattan, above the famous Barneys luxury fashion store. But sales did not meet the original projections and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on December 2, providing protection from its creditors while it prepares a new financial plan. The original backers are likely to lose their whole investment. The company plans to come out of Chapter 11 with new funds from NEA, a private equity firm, and Mellon herself. Last week it told the Delaware court handling the bankruptcy that it would “reject” the lease on the Madison Avenue offices. Chapter 11 gives businesses the power to get out of contracts with the court’s approval. The company said the offices were too big and the landlord had the right to change them to residential use in a few years, making it hard for Tamara Mellon to find a replacement tenant. The deadline for objections to the plan to come out of Chapter 11 is next week.

Nearly 800 jobs are at risk as the new owner of Brantano reviews the future of the out-of-town shoe retailer. Alteri, a turnaround fund backed by the American private equity firm Apollo Global Management, bought Brantano and Jones Bootmaker from the Dutch company Macintosh Retail Group for ￡12m last October. Brantano has 140 stores and 60 concessions in Britain. It lost ￡4.6m before tax last year, according to the latest accounts filed at Companies House, although sales increased by 6% to ￡100m and there was strong growth in online orders. Alteri, run by former EY partner Gavin George, is understood to be working with accountants PwC to explore whether Brantano needs to be restructured. PwC advised Alteri on the original deal last year. A source said that no decisions had yet been taken. While administration is an option, it would allow Brantano to shed some liabilities, it is far from certain that Alteri will choose that route. Jones Bootmaker is not thought to be affected. Since it was set up in 2014, Alteri has struck a number of deals, including providing a three-year loan to the struggling suits chain Austin Reed. It made a bid for BHS in late 2014, but was rebuffed by Sir Philip Green, who later sold the department store to a little-known consortium called Retail Acquisitions. Alteri declined to comment.

Amazon, the online giant, toasted a bumper Christmas period while its high street rivals had little cause to welcome in the new year. On December 21, as most people were winding down for the break and the retail industry was in the thick of its crunch trading period, M&S sneaked out a hefty cut to forecasts of its performance through the stockbroker Nomura. It warned that sales of clothing and homeware may have fallen 5.5% year on year in the festive quarter. That would compare with a 1.9% drop in the previous quarter and an internal target of a modest increase. Anything like the decline tipped by Nomura would look all the worse given M&S’s dire 2014 Christmas results, when sales suffered because of delivery problems stemming from its warehouse in Castle Donington, Leicestershire. An industry insider said the company had started the year viewing the festive quarter as a “home run” because the hurdle was set so low. While Marc Bolland, the chief executive, is likely to emphasise the strength of its food business and gains in clothing profitability thanks to tougher sourcing practices in Asia, M&S’s poor showing on general merchandise is set to make it one of this year’s Christmas turkeys. A combination of unseasonably warm but wet weather, a slow November and a late build-up to the usual peak has ushered in another gloomy new year on the high street. The much-hyped Black Friday discount event was a damp squib and high street chains suffered most as spending continued to migrate online. Amazon’s announcement of a “record-breaking holiday season”, which sent its shares to their highest level yet — almost $694 — showed the shift to the internet is far from over, with more and more people using smartphones to do their shopping. The Seattle-based giant run by Jeff Bezos said it had shipped 200m more packages worldwide through its Prime membership programme compared with last year — and Christmas Eve was the “biggest day ever” for Prime Now, its two-hour delivery service. “In contrast, it is 100% certain that traditional retail is in a weak position,” said Richard Hyman, an independent analyst. “The industry has been on sale all year, which is why these given periods have been disappointing. People have had promotions thrown at them all year and then they are expected to spend more at Christmas. A lot of that spending had happened already.” Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase, was the first to show signs of strain with an unusual pre-Christmas profit warning, which it blamed on uncertainty over Black Friday and the cost of introducing same-day delivery to Argos. The fashion chain Bonmarché followed, citing “challenging” conditions while announcing that its boss, Beth Butterwick, was leaving to join rival Karen Millen. The day before Christmas Eve, console and software retailer Game Digital made it a hat-trick, issuing a profit warning saying there had been a “steep decline in Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3” game sales. Trading updates over the next fortnight will sort the winners from the other losers. Primark, the discount powerhouse run by Associated British Foods, and fashion and homeware chain Next are expected to be among the few keeping their heads above water. John Lewis has already said its total sales rose 2.3% in Christmas week, though even Middle England’s favourite shop was not immune to feebler in-store trading. Debenhams, whose boss is leaving after struggling to rein in discounting, and Matalan, which has experienced problems with a new distribution centre in Liverpool, could fall into the losers’ camp. In the supermarket sector, Asda, Tesco and Morrisons are expected to be hit hardest by Aldi and Lidl’s attempts to seize the festive middle ground. It should have been so different. Wages are rising at last, responding to tightness in the labour market. Food and fuel are cheap, and payment protection insurance refunds continue to roll in. Interest rates, which are at historic lows, look set to rise gently, if at all, this year. On paper, consumers are in ruder health than they have been for a long time. That does not square with the deteriorating performance of many retailers. According to Peel Hunt, City forecasts for 30 of the biggest chains have fallen 2.2% over six months and 6.5% over the past year. As well as high street stalwarts, the stockbroker’s list included purely online players such as Asos and Boohoo.com. “It seems consumers have been more inclined either to hold back or deploy increased disposable income into travel and leisure,” wrote Peel Hunt analysts Jonathan Pritchard and John Stevenson. The KPMG/Ipsos retail think tank, a panel of eight experts, suggested spending habits had “fundamentally changed” since the downturn. It said consumers were increasingly choosing to repay mortgages early, put money into home improvements or spend on activities rather than buy more goods. “As such, if consumers weren’t feeling motivated to spend on retail during 2015, macro uncertainties in 2016 are likely to make it another tough year for the sector,” its report warned. While shoppers appear unenthusiastic about splashing out on winter coats, they also seem reluctant to trade back up to more expensive food and drink as they did coming out of previous recessions. The think tank predicted supermarkets would remain the “wooden spoon” holders of the sector. The big four — Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have been pummelled by the discounters. Aldi and Lidl made aggressive plays for wealthy Christmas dinner tables, offering premium lines such as lobster tails (￡9.99 for two at Aldi) and champagne (￡9.99 at Lidl). Both produced glossy ads promoting the kinds of products usually associated with Waitrose and M&S. Data from the researcher Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to December 6 showed discounters continued to inflict pain on the mainstream chains. Asda, which had a torrid year as it tried to protect profits at the expense of sales, saw takings fall 3.4% over the period. Tesco’s sales also shrank by 3.4% while Morrisons’ fell 2%. Sainsbury’s was alone among the big four in boosting its sales — by 1.2%. Aldi and Lidl surged ahead with double-digit increases. Waitrose and the Co-operative were also in positive territory. That performance looks set to have continued over the holidays. “Lidl might well have been the angel on top of the tree,” said Clive Black of the stockbroker Shore Capital. “They were really well set up and decoupled themselves from Aldi, particularly on the premium lines. They are going to be No 1 and 2. M&S’s food business was well set up and you would expect Waitrose and the Co-op to have done well, too.” Black said Sainsbury’s was “the most comfortable in its skin of the big four” going into Christmas and could emerge with a modest positive sales number. He predicted Asda would be the “laggard”, with sales down 3%-4%. Tesco and Morrisons — which is a Shore Capital house stock — would be “somewhere in between”. Tesco boss Dave Lewis has a high bar to clear, having managed to narrow the sales decline to 0.3% in the six-week Christmas period in 2014. “Tesco is trying to self-improve in a controlled manner,” Black said. “What worries me is footfall. The business has been better set up — I just don’t know if they have attracted enough people.” At 11.59pm on Christmas Eve, an Amazon courier delivered a parcel to a home in San Antonio, Texas. It looked like typical last-minute present buying: items inside included an Amazon gift card, a Fire tablet, Star Wars Lego, a Moleskine notebook and dog treats. It was the last order of the day delivered by Prime Now, the super-fast service offered in 20 cities. Amazon’s blockbuster Christmas topped off a remarkable year. According to Australian bank Macquarie, it accounted for almost a quarter of the $94bn growth in US retail sales. Amazon declined to disclose details of festive trading in Britain, but said its 7in Fire device was its second-biggest selling product after Adele’s new album, 25. The company’s ability to strike fear into the hearts of rivals was shown last week when comments about its intention to expand its Pantry grocery section in Britain sent Ocado’s shares sliding. The move to online shopping is just one threat facing retailers. The introduction of the living wage in April and plans to devolve business rates, still at punitive levels, could bring costs and complications. Tesco’s Lewis has described the two as a “potentially lethal cocktail” that could trigger job losses and higher prices due to ￡14bn of extra costs in the next five years. Then there is the uncertainty of the in/out EU referendum, which could lead to a lull in spending. As the new year gets under way, corks popping in the retail sector — even those of bargain bottles from Lidl will be few and far between.

Mail on Sunday.

Britain's biggest supermarket chains are facing another dire year at the hands of the German retail invaders after Aldi unveiled plans to open a record number of new stores. Aldi will open 80 branches this year, 23 per cent more than last year and its fastest ever rate of growth in the UK. The plan will take the ￡6billion UK chain to more than 700 stores and debunks any suggestion that the pace of Aldi’s growth here may slow. Jonathan Neale, joint managing director of buying at Aldi UK, said: ‘This has been another excellent year for Aldi. ‘We’re seeing a permanent, structural change in the shopping habits of UK consumers. They now know they can get all the products they want at significantly cheaper prices than at other supermarkets.’ Two months ago its German rival Lidl revealed plans to accelerate growth this year with the introduction of up to 50 new stores a year. Previously it had hoped to open up to 40 branches.Shore Capital analyst Clive Black said the German duo were experiencing ‘a second wind’ in their growth in Britain as they make inroads against the Big Four – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons. Aldi and Lidl now control 10 per cent of the grocery market after collectively increasing their share by 1.4 per cent this year, according to market research firm Kantar. Both companies have minimal levels of staff and fewer lines on shelves so their stores can operate much more efficiently than traditional supermarkets. The revelation follows a highly competitive Christmas for high street supermarkets and other chains which have battled amid heavy discounting, extremely mild weather and record floods. Analysts have pared back profit forecasts at fashion retailers including Marks & Spencer, Next and Debenhams to reflect the struggle to sell cold weather clothing due to the unseasonable temperatures. Marks & Spencer’s food business has so far proved resilient to competition from the Germans, but City analysts believe its clothing and home like-for-like sales, stripping out additional sales from new stores, could have fallen 2.5 per cent in the past three months. Such a performance will be seen as poor. Nomura analyst Frazer Ramzan said he was less concerned about the weather than the shift as customers switch from store visits to online shopping. He said Next, which will become the first of the big retailers to report on Tuesday, could see like-for-like sales at stores and online rise by 2.8 per cent. Sainsbury’s, which is scheduled to report on January 13, is expected to be the winner among the Big Four supermarkets.

Charities supported by the Prince of Wales were boosted by ￡3million last year thanks to sales of Duchy Originals products. More than 300 organic products are sold under the branding, which was launched by Prince Charles in 1992, so that every product ‘is good, does good and tastes good’. For the past five years Duchy Originals has partnered with Waitrose, giving the supermarket the exclusive licence to make, promote and sell its products in its UK stores as well as via third parties and online. Company accounts for Duchy Originals for the year ending March 31, 2015, show that Waitrose paid it ￡3.2million for the privilege. After administrative expenses were taken out, this meant the supermarket contributed ￡3million to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, which backs initiatives supporting young people, the environment, the arts and rural affairs, such as The Prince’s Trust and the Soil Association.

Telegraph.

The fallout from a punishing winter for Britain’s high street will be laid bare this week when retail stalwarts Marks & Spencer and Next are expected to report tough festive trading. Retailers have had to battle with a potent mix of unseasonably mild temperatures; heavy rainstorms; Black Friday discounting; and the terrorist attacks in Paris. All have been blamed for dampening shoppers’ enthusiasm. Britons left their Christmas shopping until the latest point since records began in 1998, according to Ipsos Retail, with footfall only peaking in the three days leading up to Christmas. Despite the late burst of activity, high street visitors were still 1.8pc lower than the same week last year. In what has already been called the toughest year ever for retail, because of an intensely competitive landscape, this Christmas is expected to put a wide gulf between the winners and losers. The City expects Marks & Spencer, which was running heavy promotions in the days leading up to 25 December, to be the usual tale of two halves. Analysts predict its food arm to have notched up stellar sales, luring shoppers with smoked salmon pearl-shaped mousses, jeroboams of prosecco and melt-in-the-middle puddings. However, its general merchandise division is likely to have suffered again. Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, is forecasting a 3pc drop in like-for-like sales, while Fraser Ramzen at Nomura is predicting an even steeper 5.5pc, which would be almost as disastrous as last year’s 5.8pc plunge, when problems at its distribution centre meant it had to suspend deliveries. While M&S has been offsetting disappointments in sales rises with a tighter grip on profit margins, these could have come under pressure as it tried to clear stock of its winter suede coats and cashmere jumpers. M&S is also thought to share some of the same middle-aged customers as Bonmarche, which was forced to issue a profits warning before Christmas.Next, which, unlike its rival, refuses to discount until Boxing Day, is expected to have enjoyed robust trading. Clive Black of Shore Capital said: “Next always defies gravity when it comes to outperforming the rest. It understands its customers, holds firm when it comes to not discounting and then shoots the lights out for the sale.”However, analysts at Jefferies cut their fourth quarter sales forecasts for Next to 4pc, down from last year, when they forecast 7.6pc growth. Next had lifted profit guidance by ￡5m for the full year before the festive season. John Lewis is also due to update on Christmas trading on Wednesday. Its most recent weekly sales report for the period to Boxing Day shows that more shoppers than ever chose to escape the crowds and shop online, boosting total sales by 2.3pc. However, its stores experienced sluggish trading.

Holland & Barrett, one of the UK’s biggest retailers, is gearing up for a ￡1bn sale this year on the back of a surge in sales and profits. Private equity firm Carlyle is planning to sell the health food and vitamins chain, which now has over 1,071 stores across the world, as the sixth anniversary of its ownership approaches. A sale likely in the near term and bankers are expected to be invited to pitch to oversee an aauction shortly. A decision on whether to offload Holland & Barrett expected before the summer, although Carlyle may instead be tempted to hold on to the business as its growth plans began to pay off. This year, profits jumped 12pc to ￡146m while sales spiked by the same number to ￡573.5m amid rocketing global demand for healthy food and increasing awareness around allergies. The strong numbers have come on the back of impressive domestic and overseas expansion. Holland & Barrett has shops in 11 different countries including Kuwait, Malta, Singapore and China, where it has 34 franchise stores. The health food chain also has two shops on Tmall, the online shopping channel owned by Chinese internet giant Alibaba. Holland & Barrett is also in talks with a partner in India ahead of plans to open its first franchise store in the region next year. Peter Aldis, Holland & Barrett’s chief executive, has also set his sights on Scandinavia after opening one shop in Sweden last year. Mr Aldis said the retailer has the potential to reach 500 to 600 stores across Scandinavia and would likely pursue acquisitions to boost numbers. Performance at the chain’s UK business has been particularly strong with sales growing 10.1pc on a like-for-like basis against a wider sector growth of 0.8pc, according to the British Retail Consortium. City sources said the retailer’s international plans would make it alluring to both rivals and other investors. While private equity interest is expected, Holland & Barrett could also provide growth opportunities to a larger retailer struggling with growth. It is understood that Tesco once looked at the business, but chief executive Dave Lewis is now focused reviving its core operations rather than following the ill-fated path of predecessor Philip Clarke who tried to boost its the supermarket’s prospects by expanding into restaurants, coffee chains, and other markets. Mr Aldis, who has run Holland & Barrett for eight years, told the Sunday Telegraph that there is no sale process currently but believed Carlyle was “exploring all options”.
“I’m not a private equity guy and they’re not shop keepers”, Aldis said. Holland & Barrett is expected to enjoy bumper trading this week with shoppers stocking up on detox products following new year’s resolutions. Holland & Barrett was originally owned by Booker and later Lloyds Pharmacy. The business is now owned by US parent NBTY. However, the group has already separated its supply chain, which could make a sale easier.

Offers for Jaeger were less than owner Better Capital was prepared to acccept, and the fashion firm will stay under Better’s control. The owner of the fashion label Jaeger has shelved attempts to sell the struggling chain after bids fell short of the asking price. Despite receiving several offers for a business that has nearly halved in value, Better Capital has unexpectedly decided to hold onto Jaeger and pump more money into it. The move may surprise the fund’s investors, who were recently told Jaeger was now worth just ￡37m, despite Better ploughing ￡63m into the chain since rescuing it in April 2012. Founded in 1884, and for much of its life at the forefront of high street fashion, Jaeger has been beset by a spell of poor trading stretching back several years. Figures released at Companies House last month show that although sales rose 6pc last year, pre-tax losses came in at ￡15.4m, only a slight improvement on the previous year. Better, run by Jon Moulton, one of Britain’s best known venture capitalists, put the retailer on the block last year, reportedly after several unsolicited takeover approaches. It is understood a mini-auction was held in the run up to Christmas, which led to a small handful of bids around the ￡35m mark, but with Better holding out for more than ￡40m, it has decided to stand by the business and provide further funds. City sources said Better had indicated it was prepared to hold on to Jaeger for at least another two years. Chief executive Colin Henry stepped down in September after failing to revive Jaeger’s fortunes. He departed less than a year after chairman Peter Williams, a former boss of Selfridges, left only six months after being appointed. Next week Jaeger will vacate its flagship Regent Street store in Central London and move to a smaller store on the King’s Road in Chelsea.

Michael Murray, the boyfriend of Mike Ashley's daugher Anna, also owns a ￡10.7m property in Belgravia, of which Mr Ashley is the lender. The 26-year-old boyfriend of Mike Ashley’s daughter, selected by the founder of Sports Direct to run the property arm of his empire, was promoting student nights and running festivals until recently. Michael Murray, who shares a home in Chelsea with one of Mr Ashley’s daughters, Anna, has been made a property director at Sports Direct. He has also been appointed as the director responsible for Mr Ashley’s interests in Newcastle United’s stadium and its property development opportunities, as well as Mash Services, which has links to the tycoon’s holding company, Mash Beta. However, Mr Murray, who has been put in charge of a ￡250m investment fund and the roll-out of Sports Direct’s new fitness superstore brand, has not been involved in commercial property development before. When his appointment at Sports Direct was first listed, he was cited as being a former director of Central London Properties, a company set up in 2014 with only two shares and Mr Murray listed as the sole director. It has since emerged that until last summer, Mr Murray was organising and promoting student events through a company called Entourage Projects, which he set up with Toby Mullins, a friend from Reading University. As well as handing Mr Murray a top role at the ￡3.5bn FTSE 100 company, Mr Ashley has also provided a loan for a ￡10.7m property in Belgravia, London which Mr Murray now owns, according to Land Registry documents. Mr Ashley’s network has previously relied on long-standing relationships. Dave Forsey, Sports Direct’s chief executive, is a company veteran of three decades’ standing, having joined the business two years after it was founded. Mr Ashley has also worked with his brother, John Ashley, a former computer science graduate, who is Sports Direct’s IT director. Mike Ashley has a 26-year-old son, Oliver, who appears to have no interest in entering the family business as yet and runs an online music station, Radar Radio, based in Clerkenwell, North London. Anna Ashley was previously listed as a property developer alongside her mother, Linda Ashley, at a since-dissolved company, RAAA. Mr Ashley has another daughter, Matilda, aged 20. It is understood the company does not have to disclose Mr Murray’s appointment or family ties as he was not appointed to the Sports Direct board. Sports Direct and Mr Ashley declined to comment.