Arcadia sales kept firmly under wraps by Sir Shifty

SIR Philip Green said he is ‘not in the mood’ to announce Arcadia results before Christmas – breaking with years of tradition.

The billionaire tycoon usually posts annual results in November, revealing sales figures in his High Street chains, which include Topshop, Wallis and Burton.

But Green – dubbed ‘Sir Shifty’ by his critics – has decided against the update this year, telling Bloomberg he had no plans to discuss Arcadia or its results.

Arcadia has been hit by a loss of selling space for its brands that had concessions in BHS stores, but Green said it was ‘doing well and picking up’.

Green’s decision follows months of criticism over his actions leading up to the sale of collapsed retailer BHS. The 64-year-old has also faced calls to be stripped of his knighthood for failing to strike a deal to sort the £571m BHS pension black hole, threatening the futures of 22,000 people.

He sold the business to thricebankrupt businessman Dominic Chappell – who had no experience in retail – for £1 in March 2015. It collapsed about a year later, causing 11,000 people to lose their jobs and ending an 88year run on the High Street. It has since emerged that Green had withdrawn £400m in dividends over the 15 years he owned BHS, leading to criticism he had stripped it of its assets before the sell-off.

Its demise is likely to hit Arcadia sales when it does report them, as BHS sold other brands through concessions.

Retail analyst Richard Hyman said it could knock as much as £100m off sales of £2bn.

‘As a private company he has no need to publish figures this early, but the fact he has done for many years makes his decision not to do so now that much more conspicuous,’ he added.

‘If they were really good then one might assume that he would be keen to share them.’

It is understood that the results will be released at some point before May, but there is no set time. Arcadia has not given a reason for the decision to scrap its annual results event, but a spokesman said: ‘The annual results for Arcadia will be filed at Companies House next May in the usual way.’