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Frasers Group is on sale – but you'll have to be brave to buy

Frasers Group is on sale – but you'll have to be brave to buy

Telegraph6 days ago
For years, Sports Direct owner Frasers was an immense force on the British high street. It made big money and investors were richly rewarded, but the past 12 months have been more challenging, and the shares have slipped back to bargain basement territory. To Questor, this looks like an opportunity for brave investors to pick up stock for peanuts.
Anyone prepared to look through near-term issues might find a lot to like. Frasers is not only a master of getting consumers to fill their baskets every time they shop in its sporting goods stores, but has also successfully moved upmarket.
What's truly exciting is the potential to be a much bigger name overseas, and it's this international growth potential that seems to have been missed by the market so far. Success in the UK lays the blueprint to apply its retailing expertise in multiple geographies, and diversification in terms of where and how it makes money is only a positive from an investment perspective.
Patience will be required, as the ongoing challenges from its latest results prove. Employment-related costs have gone up in the UK as a result of the most recent Budget, which means there is pressure to find new ways to save money and make operations more efficient.
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