Fashion magnate sees turnover decline

Fashion magnate Richard Caring has seen a dramatic decline in the fortunes of his clothing supply company. Caring, who is worth £300m and loaned £2m to the Labour Party last year, saw his London-based International Clothing Designs firm post a loss before tax of £523,000 for 2005 against a profit of almost £4m for the previous year. The company supplies garments to high street fashion chains such as Bhs, Next, Topshop and M&S. Though operating profit from continued operations increased to £1.5m, Caring's firm took a £925,000 loss on the disposal of top women's designer Amanda Wakeley.

Turnover continued to decline: where it was once above the £100m mark, last year it fell to £74.2m, from £85.4m in 2004. Caring, a close friend of retail entrepeneur Philip Green, has dramatically scaled back his business empire in recent years as it feels the impact of an increasingly powerful Chinese textile industry. Many of Caring's factories are in South East Asia. Leading fashion businesses are also sourcing more of their own clothes, threatening the role of intemediaries such as Caring. International Clothing Designs once had holdings in 17 companies;today only two are listed on accounts held at Companies House.