Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group PLC (LON:FRAS) has not been accepted as eligible for the government coronavirus corporate financing facility.
The retail group, which was owns the Sports Direct chain, said the closure of its stores during the Covid-19 lockdown was affecting its own banking lines and its suppliers’ credit insurance, with most new credit insurance cover having been temporarily withdrawn.
READ: Frasers Group boss Mike Ashley ‘deeply apologetic’ over coronavirus actions
In the initial days of the government-imposed lockdown, Ashley said indicated that he intended to keep the stores trading as long as possible, maintaining that they were essential.
However, a public backlash led to the group making a hasty U-turn and shuttering its estate.
In a positive note on Friday, the group said it has now reached a commercial settlement with the Belgian tax authorities for an “immaterial amount”.
Having been hit with a €674mln bill for VAT and related penalties last year, the FTSE 250 group said it was no longer due to pay any “material sums of tax or penalties” in Belgium as a result.
Shares in the company fell 2% to 231.5p in early trading on Friday, down 50% so far this year and undoing all the progress made in 2019.