Retail tycoon Green secures £1bn windfall
British retail tycoon Philip Green today said he had secured a windfall of more than £1bn (€1.8bn) from his Topshop-to-Burton fashion empire.
As owners of about 92% of the Arcadia chain, Mr Green and his family picked up the bulk of this year's £1.3bn (€2.3bn) dividend to shareholders, which followed an “excellent set of results” for the year to August 27.
Mr Green said the performance, which saw operating profits for the period rise 10.1% to £326.1m (€559m), had given Arcadia confidence to pay the dividend as well as continue to invest in the business.
Current trading conditions were described as challenging, but Mr Green said he believed Arcadia’s mix of brands, including Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, would be able to compete.
The £1.2bn (€2.1bn) dividend from Arcadia makes up for the failure of his other business, Bhs, to declare a dividend with its annual results last week.
Mr Green and his wife Tina were said by this year’s Sunday Times Rich List to be worth around £4.85bn (€8.6bn).
The entrepreneur acquired Arcadia in October 2002 and made an unsuccessful attempt to land Marks & Spencer last year.
He said operational improvements, particularly in stock control and the speed at which products reach stores, had enabled Arcadia to generate in excess of £400m (€707m) of cash during the last financial year.
Mr Green added: “This performance has given us the confidence to both pay the dividend and, more importantly, to continue the high level of investment in the business.”
Total sales were 6.8% higher at £1.77bn (€3.1bn) with the figure ahead 1.3% on a like-for-like stores basis.
With the market remaining “challenging and extremely competitive”, the growth in total sales has slowed to 3% in the period since the end of August.
