British retail entrepreneur Philip Green has paid himself £1.2 billion sterling in dividends from fashion group Arcadia, almost four times its annual operating profit.
Making up for the disappointment of not awarding himself a dividend from department store group Bhs earlier this month, Green said the cash pay-out to himself and minority shareholders would total £1.3 billion.
'I am delighted to announce that our third year, since acquiring the business in October 2002, has again produced an excellent set of results for the Arcadia Group,' said Green, who owns 92% of Arcadia.
The chain, whose outlets include Burton, Dorothy Perkins, TopShop and Miss Selfridge, said annual operating profit rose 10.1% to £326.1m on a 6.8% increase in total sales to $1.77 billion.
But in a high street environment that Green said was challenging and extremely competitive, same-store sales were up just 1.3% and the overall sales increase since the August 27 year-end had slowed to just 3%.
Improvements in the speed of taking stock to market and in inventory control helped Arcadia generate more than £400m in cash.
'This performance has given us the confidence to both pay the dividend and more importantly to continue the high level of investment in the business,' he said.
