Arcadia empire "worthless" as owner's fortune plunges says report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 13, 2019

The latest Sunday Times Rich List at the weekend saw Arcadia boss Philip Green falling out of the billionaire’s club with the newspaper assigning no value to his controlling stake in the Arcadia fashion retail empire.

It’s a damning assessment of the giant retail group whose stores such as Topshop and Burton are among the UK’s most familiar fashion retail names and whose chains can be found all around the world too.

The retail tycoon, who was knighted by one government and brought in as a retail advisor by another, has suffered a series of PR nightmares from the BHS collapse and pensions debacle to allegations about his behaviour. But the big issue here is directly linked to Arcadia’s problems. With a CVA for the group expected any day now, its value as a business has plummeted.

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The latest Rich List was the first time since 2002 that Green wasn’t a billionaire with his fortune now estimated at £950 million, down sharply from a high of almost £5 billion 12 years ago. A year ago he was estimated to be worth around £2 billion.

The zero valuation placed on Arcadia by the those who make up the list reflects its on-going business challenges that include a pension debt of £565 million, its withdrawal from some international markets and that expected CVA under which it would work towards reducing its store count and cutting its rent burden.