Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group PLC (LSE:FRAS) climbed after signalling a new £80 million share buyback and that it had upped a stake in N Brown Group PLC (AIM:BWNG) on Monday morning.
A maximum of 10 million ordinary shares will be repurchased through the programme, the Sports Direct and Jack Wills owner said, which kicked off on Monday and will run until April 28, when the firm’s financial year ends.
“The purpose of the programme is to reduce the share capital of the company,” Frasers added in an update to the market.
“The shares repurchased by the company will be held in treasury pending cancellation or re-issue.”
News of the buyback coincided with an update that Frasers had increased its holding in online retailer N Brown to over 20%, representing 92.8 million shares.
This was up from a 19.36% stake and follows news last week that Frasers had strengthened its position as Boohoo’s largest shareholder to hold 22%.
Shares climbed 2.62% to 804p.