Boohoo boardroom battle heats up: ‘Mahmud Kamani must go’

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is pushing for Mahmud Kamani’s full exit from the Boohoo board despite his resignation as chairman, as a bitter row intensifies between the two retailers.
Boohoo announced on Thursday that it had removed Kamani, its co-founder, from his role as chairman, made him executive vice-chair and appointed Tim Morris as independent chairman.
Nevertheless, Frasers, which holds a 27 per cent stake in Boohoo, is still attempting to push him off the board as an executive director, a position that it believes undermines efforts to rejuvenate Boohoo’s governance and strategic direction.
A spokesman for Frasers said: “His title might have changed but his grip on the company has not. Recent events, in particular the interim results, lack of transparency and further supply chain allegations, should leave shareholders in no doubt: Mr Kamani must go.”
Frasers called for shareholder meetings to remove Kamani as a director and appoint Mike Ashley, Frasers’ biggest shareholder, and the restructuring expert Mike Lennon as directors, which it said would instil a “winning mentality” at the struggling online retailer.
Boohoo, which benefited from a pandemic boom in online shopping, has suffered since then with stiff competition from new fast-fashion rivals, higher product returns and supply chain problems.
Boohoo said Morris’s appointment was part of a series of decisive steps taken by its board during its business review, including completing a refinancing, Dan Finley’s appointment as chief executive and raising about £39.3 million.
The company said its board had decided to create an independent chair to allow Kamani to continue his day-to-day executive role.
Last month Boohoo announced the departure of John Lyttle as chief executive and unveiled a strategic review that could lead to a potential breakup of the company. Boohoo named Finley, the former boss of Debenhams, as its new boss.
Frasers Group claimed that Boohoo had “rushed out a CEO appointment to try to block the say of shareholders”. It asked the board in an open letter to “stop, once and for all, its utter disregard for shareholder views”.
Frasers has been pushing the fashion retailer to overhaul management and make Ashley chief executive instead. It said in another open letter on Thursday: “Since 2016, Frasers has more than doubled its profits and Mr Ashley plans to bring this same success to Boohoo.
“[Frasers will] fix Boohoo’s supply chain. The scandals must end once and for all and the current board, led by Mr Kamani, is clearly not in a position to end these.
“We will return a winning mentality at Boohoo. Mr Ashley, Mr Lennon and Frasers continue to believe strongly in the potential of the Boohoo business and its brands, but change at the top is required to realise this potential.”
In a circular issued last week, Boohoo accused Frasers of being “intent on disrupting Boohoo’s business review and acting only in its own commercial self-interest.” It accused Frasers of having a “prior history of this sort of corporate behaviour” .
The fashion retailer said Ashley was “conflicted and not a suitable appointment to the board”, while Lennon is a “practising insolvency expert with a history of working closely with Frasers; Shareholders should ask themselves why Frasers would want him in situ at Boohoo.”
It added that the Boohoo board was “not deliberately seeking confrontation with Frasers, but will at all times act in the best interests of the company and all shareholders”.