Boohoo shareholders vote against Mike Ashley - as fast fashion soap opera continues
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Frasers Group's attempts to put Mike Ashley on the board of struggling online retailer Boohoo have resoundingly failed. Boohoo shareholders rejected two resolutions at a general meeting in Manchester on Friday that would have appointed Ashley and his associate, insolvency expert Mike Lennon, to board positions.
Only around 36 per cent of votes cast in both resolutions were in support of Ashley and Lennon's respective nominations, with the remaining 63.8 per cent against. Proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis opposed their appointment, as did the Boohoo board, partly over governance and conflict of interest concerns.
Boohoo, which owns Dorothy Perkins and PrettyLittleThing, offered last week to give Frasers one board seat - as long as it was not Ashley or Lennon. But Frasers believed the two men's leadership was needed to turn around Boohoo, whose shares have plunged by approximtely 90 per cent over the last five years.
Unsuccessful: Mike Ashley's attempts to become the chief executive of Boohoo have failed. In an October letter, the FTSE 250 company accused Boohoo's bosses of overseeing 'large-scale value destruction and long-term and continued incompetence.'. It also claimed the Manchester-based firm had engaged in 'delay and ignore' tactics by failing to 'meaningfully engage' on its board representation proposals.
The letter was published in October after John Lyttle announced he was standing down as Boohoo's CEO following a tumultuous five years in charge. But instead of taking its suggestion to appoint Ashley, Boohoo instead decided to name Debhams boss Dan Finley as Lyttle's replacement.
