Philip Green's Arcadia profit lifted by Topshop rise and BHS sale

British retail tycoon Philip Green’s Arcadia yesterday reported a 5% rise in annual profit, helped by expansion of its Topshop chain and the sale of the loss-making BHS chain.

The group, which also owns the Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans, and Burton brands, made an operating profit before goodwill and exceptional items of £251.6m (€357.7m) in the year to the end of August, up from £238.4m in the previous year.

The results are for continuing operations only and, so, benefit from the absence of the heavily loss-making BHS chain which Green offloaded to Retail Acquisitions in March.