Billionaire business man denies himself dividend

Philip Green denied himself a dividend for the second year in a row today as the summer downpours dampened profits at his Arcadia retail empire.

The billionaire – named by the Sunday Times Rich List as the UK’s seventh richest man – banked a £1.2bn (€1.7bn) windfall from Arcadia in 2005.

The retailer, whose high street chains include Topshop, Burton and Miss Selfridge, saw Arcadia’s operating profits edge up by 1.6% to £293.3m (€420m) in the year to September 1.

Green added that the small profits improvement “represented a very creditable performance when set against a background of one of the worst ”non summers“ in many years”.

The entrepreneur, who signed supermodel Kate Moss to design a clothing range for Topshop earlier this year, said the chain continued to perform “very well”.

But he told BBC Radio Five Live: “You’ve still got to have the right products, you can’t just put somebody’s name on something.”