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Frasers Withholds Outlook as Hugo Boss and Accent Bids Cloud Forecast

People walk past a Flannels store in London, Britain, December 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
People walk past a Flannels store in London, Britain, December 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Frasers Withholds Outlook as Hugo Boss and Accent Bids Cloud Forecast

People walk past a Flannels store in London, Britain, December 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
People walk past a Flannels store in London, Britain, December 4, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

British retailer Frasers on Thursday withheld its fiscal 2027 outlook, saying ongoing takeover bids for German fashion house Hugo Boss and Australian footwear chain Accent made it difficult to forecast the year ahead.

The announcement, which accompanied news that the group had missed profit forecasts for the year to April 26, ‌sparked a near 6% ‌drop in the Mike Ashley-owned sportswear and ‌fashion retailer's ⁠shares in early ⁠trade.

The results highlight the growing complexity of CEO Michael Murray's acquisition-led strategy, which has expanded the Sports Direct owner's global footprint but also generated heavy goodwill writedowns and operating costs.

"We think (Frasers') complexity and its lack of liquidity will continue to weigh on its valuation, and we think its proposed acquisition of Hugo Boss may add ⁠to execution risk and its financial leverage," said ‌RBC Capital Markets analyst Richard Chamberlain.

The ‌group said adjusted pre-tax profit fell 4% to £538 million ($727.9 million) in fiscal 2026, ‌missing its own forecast of £550 million to £600 million and analysts' ‌consensus of £564.2 million, according to LSEG data.

BIDS YET TO YIELD RESULTS

Hugo Boss earlier this month rejected Frasers' takeover bid as "financially inadequate", while an independent committee of Accent's board also recommended that a takeover proposal from the group ‌be rejected.

Frasers booked £249.9 million of impairment charges in fiscal 2026, up sharply from a £9.6 million reversal ⁠in the prior ⁠year, after fully writing down goodwill assigned to Nordic sports retailer XXL, Dutch chain Twinsport and own-brand Everlast.

It also partially impaired goodwill relating to its South African acquisition Holdsport due to weaker growth expectations.

Frasers has also been hit by challenging market conditions, subdued consumer confidence and excess inventory in recent months, which it said continued through the second half of the year and into the starting months of fiscal 2027.

"These pressures are weighing on the entire sector, creating a prolonged and challenging environment, meaning the full potential of this progress has not yet been realised," the company said in a statement.

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Fashion

LVMH Sales Edge Higher Despite Fashion Slide

FILE PHOTO: A Louis Vuitton logo is seen outside a store on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, August 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Louis Vuitton logo is seen outside a store on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, August 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
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LVMH Sales Edge Higher Despite Fashion Slide

FILE PHOTO: A Louis Vuitton logo is seen outside a store on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, August 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Louis Vuitton logo is seen outside a store on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, August 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo

LVMH, the world's leading luxury group, said Monday its sales edged higher in the third quarter despite a slowdown in China hitting its fashion and leather goods segment.

The group, whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine and drinks maker Hennessy, took in 18.5 billion euros ($20.6 billion) in the three months to the end of September, beating the consensus of analysts polled by Factset financial data firm.

The 1.2 percent sales gain beat the marginal 0.1 percent increase registered in the second quarter. The group's sales slumped six percent in the first three months of the year.

"Backed by its diverse range of businesses, LVMH remained very solid in an uncertain geopolitical and economic environment," AFP quoted the company as saying in a statement.

But the fashion and leather goods segment saw sales drop five percent excluding currency effects and changes to the business as it was "affected in the third quarter by the slowdown in demand in China."

Louis Vuitton saw its public image take a hit in China after pursuing a local tea company for copying its logo. While it won the case, it provoked a wave of indignation on social media and a call to boycott the brand.

The drop for fashion and leather goods follows the segment posting its first sales gain in two years in the second quarter.

But LVMH's selective retailing division, which includes the Sephora perfume and cosmetics retail chain, posted an eight percent sales increase, while the watches and jewelry and wines and spirits segments both managed six percent gains.

LVMH's share price has dropped 40 percent since the start of the year, with the group losing its place as the leading company on the Paris CAC 40 index in terms of capitalization to L'Oreal.

Fashion

Saint Laurent Says Designer Anthony Vaccarello to Leave

(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
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Saint Laurent Says Designer Anthony Vaccarello to Leave

(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)
(FILES) Belgian designer for Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello acknowledges the audience at the end of the women's 2018 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris, on September 26, 2017. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

Belgian fashion designer Anthony Vaccarello will leave his post as chief designer at Saint Laurent after a decade in charge, the French house's parent company Kering announced Friday.

"Anthony Vaccarello has played a key role in Saint Laurent's development, helping to strengthen its identity and influence across the worlds of fashion and culture," Kering said in a statement, without giving any reason for Vaccarello's departure.

The designer had hinted at his potential exit at his final show for Saint Laurent on September 29.

Saint Laurent is the last major Kering brand to switch creative director as a ⁠luxury ⁠industry slowdown prompted designer changes last year at Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.

"The focus of the new designer will be in currently under-represented product categories, such as women's daywear and menswear, in high-end leather goods, and less penetrated regions such as China/Asia," Barclays analysts said in a note.

Industry speculation points to Chemena Kamali, currently creative director at Chloe and previously womenswear design director at Saint Laurent, as Vaccarello's likely successor.
Saint Laurent's gross revenues fell by 9% and 6% in 2024 and 2025, before largely stabilizing this year, according to Kering.

Fashion

Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa Watch Chanel’s Creative Revival at Paris Fashion Week

Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
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Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa Watch Chanel’s Creative Revival at Paris Fashion Week

Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
Models present creations for Chanel Women's Spring/Summer 2027 collection fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on October 5, 2026. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

Chanel’s artistic director Matthieu Blazy sent the fashion house's suits stretching towards sportswear and evening dresses drifting through clouds, with Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa and Pedro Pascal in the audience as he unveiled his spring-summer 2027 collection.

The Monday night show underscored that a year into his creative revival, Blazy has made the house feel newly unpredictable.

The former Bottega Veneta designer succeeded Virginie Viard, who took over after Karl Lagerfeld ’s death in 2019. Viard’s tenure brought record sales but Blazy’s contribution has been to restore a sense that Chanel’s familiar ingredients can produce something unexpected.

That renewal is visible in his treatment of the house’s symbols: tweed can stretch; formal jackets sit against bare skin; quilted bags turn slouchy.

The appeal lies in giving established clients something recognizable, and newer ones something to reinterpret.

Beneath illuminated birds at the Grand Palais, Blazy's collection traced Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s passage from Edwardian constraint towards the freedom she sought in dress.

“It’s about the women within a woman,” Blazy wrote in his notes.

Across 83 looks, that meant expanding the possibilities of a Chanel wardrobe: knits that skimmed the body, masculine tailoring, airy eveningwear and sharply abbreviated skirts.

Raw-edged waistcoats and narrow skirt suits reworked men’s formal clothes. A pearl-embroidered corset top paired with black trousers brought the tension between restriction and ease into focus.

Older fashions lingered in ruffled collars, peplums and traces of corset boning.

The strongest development was Chanel’s new “smocked tweed,” designed to stretch and move with something of athleticwear’s ease. It was a useful proposition for an expensive, familiar garment: preserve its character while improving its possibilities.

Competing patterns and frothy tutus sometimes tipped towards costume. Dres

ses made from layered, printed silk were more persuasive, turning cloud formations and changing light into shifting color, The Associated Press reported.

Model Dyanira Hurbuscher opened and closed the collection — carrying Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 handbag, borrowed from the famed archives.

That element neatly framed the collection’s ambition: continuity with room for change — a balance Blazy’s revitalization of Chanel rests on.

He has made Chanel's heritage feel available for play, backed by serious work in the ateliers.

Lipa wore a sleeveless skirt suit with pink heels. Kidman attended with her daughter Faith Margaret.