15,000 jobs on the line as Philip Green’s Arcadia faces disaster

SIR PHILIP Green’s retail empire is on the brink of collapse, with around 15,000 jobs at risk.

The Arcadia Group, which runs the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands, is expected to appoint Deloitte as administrators in the coming days.

The company said it was working on a number of contingency options after it was reported the group’s future was in doubt.

Sources close to the process confirmed the reports.

An Arcadia spokesman said: “We are aware of the recent media speculation surrounding the future of Arcadia.

“The forced closure of our stores for sustained periods as a result of the Covid- 19 pandemic has had a material impact on trading across our businesses.

“As a result, the Arcadia boards have been working on a number of contingency options to secure the future of the group’s brands.

“The brands continue to trade and our stores will be opening again in England and the Republoc of Ireland as soon as Covid- 19 restrictions are lifted next week.”

Arcadia could tumble into administration as soon as Monday, Sky News reported yesterday.

The group has been in emergency talks with lenders in a bid to secure a £ 30m loan to help shore up its finances.

If the insolvency is confirmed, it is expected to trigger a scramble among creditors to get control of company assets.

It is the latest retailer to have been hit by the closure of stores in the face of coronavirus, with rivals including Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group and Oasis Warehouse all sliding into insolvency since the pandemic struck in March.

The group has more than 500 stores across the UK, with the majority currently shut as a result of England’s second national lockdown, which will end next week.

Sir Philip is a controversial businessman whose rougharoundthe- edges no- nonsense attitudeandtendencytotalkfreely initially won him many friends but, after a series of scandals, he became persona non grata and faced calls to make him plain Mr Green again.

Born in south London in 1952 into a wealthy Jewish family which made its money from a series of petrol stations, Sir Philip’s first big break came in the late 1970s, when he bought the stock of 10 designer outlets, and resold them from a shop in Mayfair.

He spent some time as chief executive and chairman of Amber Day in the late 1980s and early 1990s but left after the company missed a profit forecast, his last time working for a listed company.

It was not until the early 2000s that Sir Philip truly emerged into the limelight, when he bought department store BHS in a deal worth £ 200m. He subsequently bought Arcadia, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton, among other brands, in 2002 through his family- run business Taveta, of which his wife Tina, based in Monaco, is the director.

In 2005 Sir Philip paid himself £ 1.2bn in dividends from Arcadia, more than four times the company’s pre- tax profit. The money went to Tina in Monaco, meaning it was not taxed in the UK.

Around this time Sir Philip came close to buying Marks & Spencer in a £ 9bn deal but he pulled out before it was ever completed.

The forced closures of our stores had a material impact on trading. Arcadia spokesman’s statement yesterday.