Frasers Group chief executive Mike Ashley has written an open letter apologising for his actions, which included trying to keep the Evans Cycles and Sports Direct stores open, as the government put the UK into lockdown.
“Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open; we would never have acted against their advice,” Ashley wrote.
“In hindsight, our e-mails to the government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with. On top of this, our communications to our employees and the public on this were poor.”
In the letter Ashley also thanked Frasers Group employees.
He added: “We are working very hard to save our business so that we can continue to be one of the biggest employers on the UK high street once this pandemic has passed.”
Ashley also said in the letter that he had offered Frasers Group’s entire fleet of lorries to the NHS to help deliver medical equipment and supplies.
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