Frasers Group in the firing line after profit warning

Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct, is not the only retailer set to suffer now that new Covid restrictions have been introduced. Matthew Partridge reports

Sports Direct shop
Frasers Group is more reliant than most on bricks-and-mortar high-street sales
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

Frasers Group’s shares plunged by 10% this week after it “sounded the alarm” on profits, says Laura Onita in The Daily Telegraph. The news followed store closures in London and swathes of the South East due to the new Tier 4 rules .

The retailer, which owns chains including Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Evans Cycles and Game Digital, said its previous guidance from earlier this month of a 20%-30% rise in annual profits was “unlikely to be achieved”. The new rules mean that many shops will be forced to close to customers yet again and there is a “high likelihood” of “further rolling lockdowns” over the next few months.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri