Mike Ashley is being tipped to take a back seat again at Frasers Group PLC (LSE:FRAS), with his future son-in-law set to take up the day-to-day running of the Sports Direct owner.
Newcastle United owner Ashley is set to take up his old position of deputy chairman of Frasers, with an announcement possible tomorrow with its full-year results, according to the Telegraph.
Michael Murray, 31, who is engaged to Ashley’s daughter Anna, currently Frasers' head of elevation, will become the group’s new chief executive, said the newspaper.
Murray has been in charge of the retailer’s modernisation and upgrades programme, working alongside a new team of senior managers all of whom are running key parts of the Frasers empire such as Flannels and House of Fraser.
Up until five years ago, Ashley held the unusual position of being executive deputy chairman at Sports Direct, even though he owned a majority of the shares. Ashley’s stake is currently around 61%.
He took over as chief executive in 2016 when Dave Forsey stood down.
The Telegraph, though, noted there was no certainty that the changes would happen tomorrow and the company had made no comment.
Frasers Group has snapped up a number of distressed retailers in recent years and its portfolio now includes Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Flannels, GAME, Jack Wills and Evans Cycles among others.
Shares in the group have more than doubled over the past year to a five-year high of 610p and the business is expected to report bumper numbers tomorrow with profits boosted by the online shopping boom during the Covid-19 lockdown.