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Frasers Group criticises management of Mulberry after ditching takeover plans

Mike Ashley’s retail group says it ‘remains concerned about governance’ at luxury brand after final bid rejected

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has criticised the management of Mulberry as it walked away from its attempts to take over the luxury handbag maker after a series of rejected offers. In a statement to investors, it added: “Frasers continues to believe that market headwinds, and a clear lack of commercial plan, place the company in a very difficult financial position.” Frasers said it had first made a bid for Mulberry as it would “not accept another Debenhams situation” in which a perfectly viable business was “run into administration”, a reference to the £150m loss it sustained from the collapse of the department store chain where it was a shareholder.

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