Philip Green considers Arcadia sale following decline in sales

Sir Philip Green is thought to be considering the sale of Arcadia to a Chinese buyer.

The retail tycoon is believed to be in talks with Chinese textiles giant, Shandong Ruyi, in an attempt to pass on struggling brands including Miss Selfridge and Burton.

Arcadia has over 2,800 stores and 26,000 employees worldwide but the brands are suffering from falling revenues from online rivals such as Boohoo and Asos.

Christmas results showed Topshop’s like-for-like sales to fall by 10.9 percent over the period.

Green has believed to be looking for a buyer for several years but has found it difficult following the BHS scandal, where every move has been scrutinised over the past two years.

The department store collapsed in 2016. A report released by MPs into the BHS’s collapse was highly critical of Green and many MPs wanted to strip the billionaire of his knighthood. Green then agree to rescue BHS’ pension fund, which cost him£363 million

Shandong Ruyi (SHE: 002193) is hoping to expand in Europe and has acquired many European groups including a controlling stake in the Swiss luxury leather goods company Bally. The Chinese group also negotiated a 54 percent stake in manufacturer Bagir.

Last year, it bought British heritage brand Acquascutum for £95 million.

Arcadia has been valued at the £1 billion mark, however, it is thought a buyer would pay around £500 million because the group would need heavy restructuring work.

It is not clear if Green will include flagship brands Topshop and Topman in the sale of Arcadia.

Frank Field, the chairman of the influential work and pensions select committee, hopes the sale of the group will mean the protection of employees’ pensions.

“The committee will be writing to try to ascertain how this might affect the pension funds, because they are in deficit,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “There is a repayment plan in operation. What is going to be promised to the pensioners if there is a sale?”

 

More articles ―