boohoo has retorted against Frasers Group’s criticism of its financial results, describing them as "inaccurate and unfair".

The statement follows the open letter written by Frasers, which owns 27% of boohoo, calling on Mike Ashley to be appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) at the fashion retailer, after its current CEO, John Lyttle, announced he was stepping down from the role.

Last week, boohoo launched a new £222m refinancing deal, which it said was "appropriate" for the next phase of the group’s development.

This was described by Frasers as "wholly unsatisfactory", adding that boohoo’s latest results were "abysmal".

However, boohoo returned stating that it had discussed this debt refinancing with Frasers on "multiple occasions", adding that the characterisation of the deal was "inaccurate and unfair".

In its statement, Frasers said it "firmly believes" that the appointment of Ashley as CEO and Mike Lennon as director would be in the "best interests of boohoo" and its investors, and would be the "only way to set a new course" for its future.

This has been questioned by boohoo, who state that with Ashley holding a 73% in Frasers and a 23.6% stake in ASOS, which both operate in "similar markets" to boohoo, adding that this needs to be "carefully considered" by the board.

In line with this statement, boohoo said that the process of appointing a new CEO, which started prior to the meeting with Frasers, is "well underway".

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, stated: "boohoo has responded robustly to Frasers’ bid to install Ashley as its new CEO, none too subtly questioning if Ashley at the helm is in the interests of shareholders other than Frasers and batting back criticism of its recent refinancing.

"In the meantime the company has pointedly outlined plans to continue with its own search for a replacement for current boss John Lyttle.

"boohoo continues to review the validity of the requisition for a meeting to vote on Ashley’s appointment as CEO but, based on past form, the retail tycoon is unlikely to disappear quietly whatever Boohoo’s response so we can expect this saga to run for some time to come."

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