Entrepreneur Philip Green was celebrating record results for his Arcadia retail empire today after annual operating profits rose by 30% to £296.3 million.
Although like-for-like sales were slightly lower in challenging market conditions, results for the seven weeks since the year end showed an improvement of 3.1%.
Mr Green also revealed he was closer to clearing his borrowings on fashion chain Arcadia, with bank debt reduced from £400 million to £120 million by the year end.
The billionaire borrowed £808 million from HBOS to acquire the Top Shop to Burtons group two years ago, with a six-year repayment schedule.
The performance of the chain, which also includes the Miss Selfridge and Wallis brands, allowed the group to pay £500 million to its shareholders.
A large proportion of this will go to Mr Green and his family, possibly boosting the war chest for funding other retail deals.
Mr Green said: "The market remains challenging but we are confident that further progress can be made with our world-class brands."
He added that the group had continued to work on its supply chain and the speed at which new clothes arrive on the market.
Same-store sales, which strip out new store openings, fell by 0.8% in the 52 weeks to August 28, while total sales rose by 0.8% to £1.66 billion.
However, total sales in the seven weeks since then were 6.7% higher and like-for-like sales were 3.1% ahead.
At the bottom line, pre-tax profits rose to £246 million from £160 million.
This summer, Mr Green failed in a bid for Marks & Spencer after his £9 billion offer failed to result in talks with the retailer's board, which is led by the former boss of Arcadia, Stuart Rose.
Mr Green's family collected £40 million 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.
A day earlier, Mr Rose posted disappointing second quarter sales and confirmed that interim pre-tax profits were expected to fall.
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