The Frasers Group acquisition trail is showing no signs of running out of road any time soon, with brand takeovers, shopping destination buys and now a further top-up of its Hugo Boss stake.

It said this week that it has increased its investment in the German luxe fashion giant. It now has interests comprising 5,627,661 shares of common stock, representing 7.99% of Hugo Boss’s total share capital; and 9,721,000 shares of common stock via the sale of ‘put options’, representing 13.81% of Hugo Boss’s total share capital.

After taking into account the net premium it will receive, Frasers Group’s maximum aggregate exposure in connection with its net acquired interests in Hugo Boss, is approximately €490 million (£415 million) at the shares’ latest closing price.

The top-up follows another buy as recently as late May that took its stake to a value of around £305 million.

That said, earlier this year the British company began reducing its holding in Hugo Boss in several stages (taking it from around £770 million to £580 million in an initial move), so the new top-up means the value of its holding is still well below that.

The company’s purchase of shares both in May and recently could make good commercial sense however given that the share price has been falling this year.

It’s down over 40% year-to-date. It began 2024 at almost €69 but the latest price is €39, giving Hugo boss a total market valuation of €2.83 billion so it’s purchases this year are likely to have been at much lower prices than those at which it sold the shares at the start of 2024.