Arcadia, the Top Shop-to-Dorothy Perkins clothing retailer is to close an extra 55 stores on top of 400 announced in April, as it plunged further into the red.

But the retailer said any job losses would be minimal, probably in the region of 50 to 100 employees.

In April the group, Britain's second biggest high street clothing retailer, said it would be cutting 3,500 jobs as it launched a major restructuring programme.

This latest move came as the group showed it had plunged heavily into the red, reporting a loss before tax of £152.5 million in the year to August 26, compared to a profit of £46.7 million in the same period last year.

Chief executive John Hoerner said it had been a "difficult" year and he had not been satisfied by the group's performance. Margins slumped to 1.2 per cent, against 3.7 per cent last year, and sales of menswear were down 3.5 per cent.

But womenswear fared better, with sales rising by 39.5 per cent on the back of higher store numbers.

Overall retail sales at the group, excluding its Richards and Principles for Men, which have all either been closed or earmarked for closure, were up 26.7 per cent.

Arcadia said it had yet to identify which extra stores would be closing, or how many staff it would relocate.

The review, launched in April, saw the group focusing on its womenswear stores such as Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Warehouse at the expense of ailing menswear brands - including Principles for Men - and Richards shops.

But plans to open 300 new sites partly offset the planned job losses.

Pre-tax losses were affected by one-off costs of £144 million relating to the review and the closures as well as a £31 million cost of integrating its Sears Womenswear brand and a £3.1 million trading loss on Principles for Men.