Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green to axe 260 high street stores

Sir Philip Green: Said high-street shoppers are 'spooked'
12 April 2012

One of Britain's biggest retailers today unveiled plans to shut 10 per cent of its high street stores in a shattering new blow to the economy.

Sir Philip Green, the retail tycoon behind Topshop, BhS and Miss Selfridge, said shoppers are so "spooked" that he is being forced to close up to 260 shops - raising fears other chains will follow.

The billionaire's warning is another setback for the Coalition days before Chancellor George Osborne delivers what is expected to be a sombre Autumn Statement to MPs on prospects for the economy.

Sir Philip, who has advised the Government on cutting Whitehall waste, revealed that profits from his Arcadia retail empire have crashed by 38 per cent to £133 million in the year to end of August. Sales fell two per cent to £2.7 billion.

He said: "The market is tough, the consumer is spooked."

The unprofitable stores would be closed as their leases came up for renewal, he said. Of the more than 2,500 shops the billionaire owns worldwide - most of them in the UK - the leases on about 450 expire in the next three years.

Sir Philip warned that trading had worsened since the start of the new financial year with sales slipping 4.4 per cent in the past three months. He added: "I don't want to complain about the weather, but it is very, very tough out there."

The announcement of the planned closures is yet another setback for the high street as it prepares for what will be a make or break Christmas for many retailers.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in