LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Frasers, the British sportswear and apparel retailer that owns the Sports Direct brand, on Thursday reported a 13.1% rise in full-year profit, benefiting from its plan to diversify and shift the group upmarket.

The FTSE 100-listed group, controlled by founder Mike Ashley, said it made an adjusted pretax profit of 544.8 million pounds ($709 million) in the year to April 28 - at the top end of its guidance range of 500-550 million pounds and up from 478 million pounds made in 2022/23.

It forecast 575 million pounds to 625 million pounds for its new financial year. ($1 = 0.7688 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton)