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Womens fashion group Laura Ashley has raised its stake in Moss Bros Group to 6.21%, amid ongoing takeover talks between the menswear retailer and Icelandic investment group Baugur.

Moss Bros chief executive Philip Mountford said on Thursday that the group had received no communication from Laura Ashley, with regards to it making a bid.

A notification to the stock exchange Friday morning revealed Laura Ashley bought 240,000 shares at 46.2 pence each through its vehicle Bagleys Investments, and it now holds around 5.87 million shares.

Moss Bros made a pre-tax loss in 2007 of £1.4 compared with a pretax profit of £5.1 million the previous year.

Like-for-like retail sales were flat over the course of the year. In the first nine weeks of its current financial year, Moss Bros said like-for-like sales were up 0.9%.

Laura Ashley's latest share purchase is considerably higher than the 42p per share indicative offer from Baugur for Moss Bros, which valued the business at about £40 million.

Baugur has been granted access to Moss Bros' books to carry out due diligence. However, Moss Bros has said the board was not unanimous in this decision with director Mark Bernstein dissenting.

Bernstein represents some of the family shareholders from the Moss and Gee families that together hold more than 25% of the company. The families are known to believe the current offer undervalues the business.

A formal offer from Baugur is expected later this month. It is understood that due diligence on the business has already been completed.

Shares in Moss Bros slipped 0.25p to 47p on Friday morning following confirmation of Laura Ashley's latest stock purchase.