Frasers Group has pledged to secure the pay of personal shoppers and stylists at Harvey Nichols after Mike Ashley's retail empire acquired the luxury department store.

The Sports Direct and Flannels owner will make "goodwill payments" to a number of personal shoppers and stylists who were left owing money when Harvey Nichols collapsed.

Frasers snapped up the department store chain – founded in 1813 and owned since 1991 by Hong Kong-listed Dickson Concepts – from administrators FTI for £40m last week, as Ashley's group attempts to stretch upwards into luxury fashion. The firm initially faced pushback when it sought to enter the auction for Harvey Nichols, with some of its luxury suppliers raising concerns about working with Frasers – which has garnered a reputation for an aggressive acquisition approach.

Freelancers who serve the department store chain's wealthy shoppers could otherwise have been forced to wait months for their fees to be paid out through the group's administration process, it is understood. Self-employed contractors typically rank as unsecured creditors in an administration, where payouts can be slow and partial. Frasers has instead opted to fast-track the payments, and will hand them out to personal shoppers and stylists within 72 hours.

A spokesperson for Frasers said: "Where possible, Frasers Group does its best to be supportive of individual traders and small businesses.

"In future, personal shoppers and stylists who choose to work with Harvey Nichols will be remunerated on a monthly basis, rather than receiving quarterly payments as was previously the case."

"We have identified a significant number of self-employed individuals who were owed monies for their services as personal shoppers and stylists under the former ownership of Harvey Nichols," the Frasers spokesperson said. "Whilst this would normally be a matter for the administrator with no obligation falling upon Frasers Group, we would like to reassure these individuals that we will ensure they are paid swiftly and in full," they added.

Frasers continues luxury push

The acquisition of Harvey Nichols saw Frasers prevail over FTSE 100 retailer Next to take control of the struggling department store chain. Frasers said the group, which has posted five successive years of losses after succumbing to intense competition from rivals Harrods and Selfridges, will need "significant restructuring".

The deal is not Frasers' first department store rescue: in 2018, trading as Sports Direct, it bought House of Fraser out of administration for £90m. British department stores more broadly have been under sustained strain in recent years, with BHS collapsing in 2016 and Debenhams following into administration in 2020.

Ahead of the deal, Ashley said that Harvey Nichols – which found new fame after its association with the 1990s sitcom Absolutely Fabulous – had fallen into a "death spiral". He told the Financial Times that he expected the department store chain to be sold for less than £40m.

"I don't think I'll be writing a huge cheque, because you've got to think about the future losses," he said.

Earlier this week, Frasers upped its stake in German fashion house Hugo Boss to nearly 48 per cent – a holding it has built over several years – as Ashley's group hunts further control over the luxury fashion sector.