Green shop empire sinks to £180m loss
FASHION tycoon Sir Philip Green’s retail empire crashed nearly £180million into the red last year.
The heavy loss – a sharp drop on its £53million profit the previous year – came as the owner of high street chains Topshop and Miss Selfridge was hammered by cut-throat competition.
Sales at Arcadia, which also owns Topman, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Wallis, slumped nearly £90million to £1.8billion in the year to last September.
Gillian Hague, the group’s finance chief, said: “The retail landscape has changed dramatically over recent years and the increased competition from other high street and online retailers in particular has had significant impact on our performance.”
The annual loss – Arcadia’s first in seven years – was partly due to slashing the value of store leases.
Accounts for Taveta Investments, Arcadia’s parent company, showed the loss wiped out its corporation tax bill. Instead, it got a £12million tax credit.
A spokesman said the lease hit was “non-cash” and that – excluding this and other one-off costs – profits fell from £124million to £78.1million.
Sir Philip, 67, is trying to boost Arcadia’s flagging fortunes after securing creditors’ backing for a rescue deal. Measures include a wave of store closures, while Monaco-based Lady Green – Sir Philip’s wife and Taveta’s ultimate owner – will pump tens of millions of pounds into the business.
However, the accounts say there are “material uncertainties that could impact the group and company’s going concern position over the next 12 months”.
The losses will add to the problems faced by Sir Philip, whose reputation was shattered by the BHS scandal.
A year after he sold the firm in 2015, it went into administration with debts of £1.3billion – including a £571million pensions black hole.
He is also fighting allegations of sexual and racist behaviour from former staff. He denies all claims.
Sir Philip dismissed the £177million loss when contacted by the Express.
He said it was mostly “non-cash” – meaning due to accounting rules.
But while the tycoon is looking to the future, 1,000 staff members face the axe under his store closure plan.
Around 1,800 more lost their jobs during the past year, due to 40 store and concession closures.
SIR PHILIP GREEN’S Arcadia retail empire has laid bare the state of its finances in the year before its move to shake up the business with a radical recovery plan.
In annual accounts for the year to September 2018 filed to Companies House, the retailer’s holding company Taveta Investments reported a loss of £177.3million.
The group said it had incurred £217.1million of exceptional costs, which meant it swung to a loss despite an underlying profit.
It compares with a profit of £49.4million the previous year.