The fashion group Boohoo is to forge ahead with a plan to change its name to Debenhams, despite Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group voting to block formalisation of the move amid a stinging battle between the two retailers.

Boohoo said earlier this month it wanted to rename itself Debenhams, the department store brand it bought out of administration four years ago, after sales from Boohoo’s young fashion labels sank more than a fifth amid heavy competition from the likes of Shein.

However, an effort to formally rename its corporate entity as Debenhams failed as it lost a vote at a special shareholder meeting on Friday.

The group said that, despite the vote, it intended to use the name Debenhams on all communications and change its stock market ticker to DEBS from BOO on Monday.

Boohoo’s board said in a statement: “It is no surprise to the board that Frasers, a major competitor of the group, has voted against the resolution, and continues to act in its own self-interest.”

Shareholders representing 62% of the stock backed the name change, falling just short of the two-thirds required. The vast majority of the vote against – 413.5m out of 414.4m – was down to Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser and luxury streetwear retailer Flannels as well as online specialists I Saw it First and Studio Retail.

While Frasers’ stake in Booohoo amounts to just under 29%, it was able to block the resolution as not all shareholders voted – raising its proportion of the vote to almost 38% – and a sprinkling of other investors also voted against the name change.

The vote means that – even though the group’s corporate branding and stock market ticker will now be Debenhams Group – the firm’s Aim-listed entity will remain as Boohoo Group.

It is the latest episode in the Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley’s battle with Boohoo.

In December, Boohoo shareholders blocked Ashley and an associate from joining its board in an attempt to control the struggling online fashion retailer.

Ashley had sought to become the chief executive of Boohoo but was blocked by the company from putting that proposal to shareholders.

That vote was at the first of two special meetings convened by Frasers Group. At a second, in January, Frasers attempted to oust Boohoo’s founder and co-chair Mahmud Kamani, but that effort also failed.

Ashley has made Boohoo the latest in a long line of targets for his corporate empire which includes brands ranging from House of Fraser and Flannels to Evans Cycles and Game. He has long sought to control the Debenhams business, having lost at least £150m when the previously listed department store chain fell into administration in 2019.

Earlier this month, Dan Finley, the chief executive of Boohoo, said sales for its founding brand as well as Man and Pretty Little Thing, had fallen sharply as “we lost our way”.

Boohoo benefited from the rise in online shopping during the Covid pandemic but has since struggled to compete with fast-fashion rivals such as Shein and Temu and a shift to buying secondhand clothes among teens and twentysomethings.

Frasers Group has been approached for comment.