Profits drop 16% at Sir Philip Green's fashion empire

Sir Philip Green's fashion empire saw its profits drop by 16% to £211m in the year to August 2016, according to media reports.

Accounts for Green’s holding company, Taveta Investments, which owns the Arcadia group, show the 16% drop in profits, as well as a drop in sales of 2.5% to just over £2bn. The accounts have been filed at Companies House but are not yet available to the public, however reporters at The Times and The Guardian have seen the figures.

The accounts are also believed to show that Taveta invested £100m in Arcadia during the year in question and, despite the drop in profits, had cash reserves of £223m, which was roughly in line with the prior year. It did not pay a dividend.

Green is believed to have hired consultants McKinsey to advise Arcadia, which owns Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Evans, on its online retail strategy. However neither Green nor McKinsey would comment.