Record Results For Green's Arcadia

Philip Green has been celebrating record results for his Arcadia retail empire. He announced annual operating profits up by 30 per cent to £296.3m - and that he was looking to repay loans early. Although like-for-like sales were slightly lower, results for the seven weeks since the year end showed an improvement of 3.1per cent. Mr Green also revealed he was closer to clearing his borrowings on fashion chain Arcadia, well ahead of schedule. He plans to reduce his bank debt from £400m to £120m by the year end.

The billionaire borrowed £808m from HBOS to acquire the Top Shop to Burtons group two years ago, with a six-year repayment period. "The market remains challenging but we are confident that further progress can be made with our world-class brands," said Mr Green. Shareholders - largely Mr Green and his family - joined the boom and will receive £500m.

Analysts expect the cash to be added to his 'war chest' for funding other retail deals. This summer, Mr Green failed in a £9bn bid for Marks & Spencer. Mr Green's family collected £40m in dividends from the department store group Bhs earlier this month and increased the pressure on M&S with healthy sales for the period since August.