Sports Direct claimed yesterday that its purchase of House of Fraser was a “fantastic opportunity”, even though the department stores chain had lost £31.5m in the first 11 weeks of its ownership.
The sportswear group said that the losses were a result of significant disruption that had followed its purchase, with House of Fraser’s website and warehouse out of commission for several weeks.
Sports Direct said that it had had to pay some suppliers in advance to convince them to provide stock for 50 stores and had injected £70m of working capital into the supply chain.
