Sir Philip Green’s high street empire plummets to £177m loss
Written by News on 06/09/2019
Sir Philip Green’s high street retail empire plummeted to a £177m loss last year – blaming a “dramatically” changed retail landscape and increased competition.
The business, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, is currently undergoing a shake-up, which was agreed to avert its collapse in June.
The corporate restructure will see 48 stores close, threatening about 1,000 jobs.
The latest results for Taveta Investments, the holding company for Arcadia Group owned by Sir Philip’s wife Tina, revealed a pre-tax loss of £177.3m for the year to 1 September 2018, compared with a profit of £53.5m the year before.
Turnover over the period fell 4.5% to £1.8bn, which the company said reflected “the ongoing challenging global market conditions for retailers”.
The annual report added: “The retail landscape has changed dramatically over recent years and the increased competition from other high street and online retailers in particular has had a significant impact on our performance.
“After coming through a challenging year, we are now very clear on our strategic direction.”
The group also said Brexit had contributed to the uncertainty and had drawn up contingency plans “for revised supply chain routings where necessary”.
But the report also noted: “There are certain scenarios that could arise in the event of continued challenging and volatile market conditions in the retail sector, including a disorderly Brexit from the European Union, that would create uncertainties around the ability of the group to operate within the liquidity available from existing funding arrangements.”
(c) Sky News 2019: Sir Philip Green’s high street empire plummets to £177m loss
