Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has settled its long-running €674m (£588m) tax dispute with Belgian authorities.

The group, which owns a stable of high street businesses including Sports Direct, House of Fraser, USC and Jack Wills, said it had agreed to pay “an immaterial amount” to the Belgian tax authority.

It comes nine months after the business was rocked by the tax demand, which forced it to delay the publication of its financial results.

Frasers Group said it had now “successfully resolved” the matter – “together with a number of other historic tax matters” – by reaching a commercial settlement with the Belgian tax authority.

But the business insisted that the deal meant it would pay out “no material sums of tax or penalties”.

The retailer said it had moved quickly to settle the dispute now because “the uncertainty is affecting Frasers Group’s banking lines and its suppliers’ credit insurance” amid the coronavirus crisis.

Frasers Group did not provide a broader update regarding how coronavirus was impacting the business, but said it has not been accepted for funding from the Covid Corporate Financing Facility.

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