Arcadia could offer landlords shares in bid to cut rents

Retail mogul Sir Philip Green is reportedly considering offering landlords shares of up to 20 percent in Arcadia Group to win support for his ongoing restructuring plans.

According to The Sunday Times, Green’s advisers are considering offering the shares in his retail empire, which owns brands Topman, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton, as a way of “sweetening” a potential company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Earlier in March, Arcadia appointed property advisers from consultancy firm GCW to work alongside Deloitte on the company’s restructuring strategy.

The Financial Times reported last week that Arcadia Group had drawn up a list of 67 of its 570 stores it wanted to close as part of its cost-cutting plan. The list of stores, seen by FT, reportedly includes locations like Meadowhall in Sheffield, Merry Hill in the West Midlands and Metrocentre in Gateshead. The group is reportedly also looking for rental cuts of around 30 percent for the stores it plans to keep open.

The move comes as part of a wider cost-cutting strategy by the group, as it joins a long list of UK companies struggling to operate in the UK’s difficult retail conditions. In the year to August 2017, Arcadia reported sales of 1.9 billion pounds, while operating profits were down 42 percent to 124 million pounds.

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