Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group is exploring options to bolster business in the wake of “an exceptionally challenging retail market” in the UK.
There have been media reports that the billionaire tycoon is considering a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a form of insolvency. According to the BBC, Arcadia said it would shortly be issuing a statement in response to that media speculation.
Arcadia Group is the UK’s largest fashion retailer and owns the high street clothing retailers Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and the out of town chain Outfit.
The group has been hit by rising costs and declining sales and profits as its online rivals continue to expand.
Arcadia said that job cuts and store closures are likely, but insisted that they wouldn’t be ‘significant’.
“Within an exceptionally challenging retail market and given the continued pressures that are specific to the UK high street we are exploring several options to enable the business to operate in a more efficient manner,” Arcadia was quoted by the BBC as saying.
“None of the options being explored involve a significant number of redundancies or store closures. The business continues to operate as usual including all payments being made to suppliers as normal,” it added.
Sir Philip’s plan of restructuring the group was first reported by The Daily Telegraph in January.
