Sir Philip Green shrugs off profit slide at Arcadia
SIR PHILIP Green shrugged off Arcadia’s decline in full-year profits yesterday, insisting his retail empire was adapting to the “fast-changing” demands of the retail industry.
The company behind Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis as well as Topshop, posted a 3.4 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £143.1m in the year to 30 August.
This was despite sales edging up 0.9 per cent to £2.7bn, with like-for-likes up 1.6 per cent.
However, Green was undeterred by the profits slump: “Over the past year, we have continued to trade successfully in the UK, with strong performances in particular from Dorothy Perkins and Wallis.”
Green said Miss Selfridge, Burton and Evans all turned a profit. However, these were offset by losses at BHS, which increased to £21m from £19.3m the previous year.
Underlying sales were down 1.2 per cent in the 10 weeks from 10 August, hurt by the warm autumn weather.
The retail billionaire has been looking to tap into Topshop’s popularity with twenty-somethings in new countries overseas to support performance in Arcadia’s home market.
It has recently opened a 40,000 sq ft flagship store in New York – Topshop’s second largest after the Oxford Street behemoth – and plans to open further stores in Houston and Atlanta, as well as Asia, through a partnership with high-end department store Lane Crawford, and Europe.
Arcadia is in the process of reviewing its UK property portfolio and closed 64 net stores last year, taking its portfolio to 2,311.