House of Fraser: Details emerge of dismissed executives

The department store chain’s new owner published a stock market filing yesterday evening, in which it stated it had “dismissed the former directors and senior management of House of Fraser”.

Those dismissals included chief executive Alex Williamson, brought on board by former chairman Frank Slevin during the summer of 2017, but other details were scarce.

Other exits are now known to include chief marketing officer Paddy Earnshaw, chief financial officer Colin Elliot and chief product and trading officer David Walker-Smith, Retail Week understands.

B&M director Simon Pickering is understood to still be with the business.

Earnshaw and Walker-Smith were, along with Williamson, new recruits. Earnshaw was recruited from Doddle last autumn, while former Selfridges and Fenwick exec Walker-Smith joined just eight months ago. Elliot joined the business in 2015 when it was still run by former chief executive Nigel Oddy, who quit to join The Range.

There has been speculation that Sports Direct head of elevation Michael Murray will take a more central role at House of Fraser, bringing it into the same division as Sports Direct’s premium fashion fascia Flannels. Flannels and USC managing director Cyril Williams is working on HoF’s menswear offer, Drapers reported.

Sports Direct yesterday called once more for an investigation into the collapse of the department store chain, which collapsed owing creditors nearly £1bn. Boss Mike Ashley, who was not legally obliged to pay the previous owner’s bills, attracted criticism for not doing so.