MISS SELFRIDGE £17.5M IN THE RED AS SALES PLUMMET

SIR Philip Green’s Miss Selfridge chain slumped to a £17.5m loss last year in the latest blow to his struggling Arcadia empire.

Sales fell by more than 15pc to £102m in the year to September 2018 while pre-tax losses quadrupled from £4.3m in 2017.

The firm took a £12.1m hit to get out of leases on loss-making stores as the company announced it would now mostly sell the youth fashion brand online.

The accounts, released over the weekend, also showed the average number of staff working in UK stores fell by a fifth to 1,188.

Chloe Collins, analyst at GlobalData, said: ‘As expected Miss Selfridge accounts prove it to be one of Arcadia’s weakest links.’

Arcadia, which has 570 stores and is home to Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis, fell to a £177.3m loss last year. In the same period Topshop and Topman reported a £505m loss.

Arcadia fought off collapse in June by winning backing from creditors to close 50 stores, shed 1,000 staff and cut rents by up to 50pc.

The next crunch will come in December when a £310m loan on Topshop’s Oxford Street store is due to expire.