WhatsApp messages reveal Boohoo tycoon’s debt collection tactics

The founder of the troubled fast-fashion empire Boohoo sought to collect a £100,000 personal debt by taking a cut of payments to one of its jeans suppliers, The Telegraph can reveal.

Mahmud Kamani, 61, who is currently Boohoo’s executive vice-chairman, instructed a middleman in its supply chain to deduct 20p per garment from payments to PDQ Textiles, a Manchester company with factories in Pakistan.

According to angry WhatsApp messages seen by The Telegraph, Mr Kamani claimed he was owed £100,000 by Anjum Majid, the father of the owner of PDQ Textiles.

Mr Kamani, who founded Boohoo in 2006 and retains a 12.5pc stake, told the middleman: “I want my £100k… please deduct 20p per garment from all his son’s orders… with immediate effect all deliveries from today.”

As part of the same conversation in 2023, Mr Kamani appeared to suggest that Boohoo would punish PDQ Textiles if it attempted to increase prices in response.

He told the middleman: “No increases in prices will be acceptable under any circumstances… I have told my buyers also any increase in prices and it will become very difficult and business will get affected or stopped.

“I will personally be signing off the orders and making sure the account is monitored. Please let’s keep this clean or problem.”

The messages are likely to raise fresh concerns about Boohoo, which is under severe pressure from falling sales and looming debt repayments. It was previously rocked by independent findings of “weak corporate governance” in relation to malpractice in its supply chain. Boohoo pledged reforms in response.

The company declined to comment on whether deductions from the payments it made to the middleman for PDQ Textiles products were paid to Mr Kamani. It declined to explain what Mr Kamani meant by “let’s keep this clean or problem” and did not respond to questions about its financial arrangements with Mr Kamani and the middleman.

The loan to Mr Majid was made via Pinstripe Clothing, a private company personally co-owned by Mr Kamani which now trades as Pinstripe Property. It is not part of Boohoo and Mr Kamani remains a director.

Boohoo, which is listed on London’s junior market, Aim, did not comment on whether investors had been made aware of its involvement in collecting debts. It reached a peak valuation of more than £5bn during the pandemic home shopping boom – more than M&S at the time. Today, the company’s valuation has collapsed to less than £230m.

A company spokesman said: “The loan predates the group’s IPO [stock market debut] in 2014 and remains unpaid. We have no further comment.”

Mr Majid declined to comment. He is said to claim that most of the debt to Mr Kamani has been repaid via deductions made by the middleman to payments to his son’s company.

In further messages between Mr Kamani and Mr Majid last year, also seen by The Telegraph, the Boohoo vice-chairman said the deductions from PDQ Textiles garments would be increased to 25p. He threatened to stop Boohoo doing business with the manufacturer over the dispute.

He said: “You wouldn’t of [sic] paid till now if you weren’t supplying jeans, let’s not lie about the real truth and reality of this situation.”

“Only £30k been paid at f—ing 10p garment. You still owe me over £100k with interest. Don’t bull—- me and get busy telling me it’s paid!

“If you get busy I will deduct the whole outstanding straight away.

“Don’t get clever otherwise I will get double clever. I have no problem to stop the business and then you keep my money. Enough is enough.”

Boohoo’s biggest shareholder, with 29pc, is Frasers Group, controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, who at the turn of the year made an unsuccessful attempt to oust Mr Kamani.

The Sports Direct owner subsequently wrote to other shareholders, which includes the City institution Schroders, raising concerns over governance. Frasers flagged alleged payments by Mr Kamani’s son Umar, the founder of the PrettyLittleThing brand, of which Boohoo acquired full control in 2020 for up to £324m.

Mr Kamani, the Manchester-raised, Kenyan-born son of Indian parents, joined the ranks of Britain’s super-rich when Boohoo joined the stock market in 2014, cashing in £240m of shares.

Today the company also owns the Karen Millen, Oasis, Warehouse and Debenhams brands following a takeover binge. Mr Kamani also snapped up the Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins labels from the wreckage of his friend Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire.

Financial pressure has been building on Boohoo as its trading has deteriorated amid strong competition from the expanding Chinese player Shein. Boohoo reported a 16pc fall in revenues in the year to February, an accelerating decline. It said it expected to report adjusted underlying earnings for the full year of around £40m.

However, Boohoo’s full-year report, typically published in May, appears to have been delayed as it attempts to refinance £175m of its debt pile. In the meantime, social media channels are full of customers complaining about month-long delays to refunds and reports have begun to emerge of overdue payments to suppliers.

Boohoo did not comment on the claims of delayed payments and has previously expressed confidence it can deliver a turnaround.