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Our next Retail diagnostic report will be on... Arcadia Group (Topshop)

Arcadia Group IPO retail Topshop

There are so many questions about the retailer, its presumed staged divestment of BHS, its [lack of] response on the six or seven senior management departures (in 2017 alone!!), its reluctance to invest properly, its China rollout, why it continues making a loss in the US, what is happening in Ireland, and has the owner finally turned into a liability for the company... among many many others.

Taveta Investments Ltd (ultimate parent company) and its subsidiaries are providing opaque P&L accounts making any deep analysis tricky. However, top line revenues are always telling of what is happening under the surface.

So, when we have made a few estimates and so on we are surprised to find some pretty interesting numbers. For example, Topshop Oxford Circus' sales per sqft is almost £2000. This is simply astonishing, especially when compared to its New York flagship store just about nudging £600 per sqft.

There are no indications (so far) on online/digital revenue but it can quite easily be deducted that Topshop & Topman's revenues would have looked far worse than they do without it.

Is Green contemplating selling off or listing part of Topshop & Topman? In 2013 "Top Shop/Top Man Ltd" acquired the Topshop & Topman brand from Arcadia Group at a valuation of about £900m. Top Shop/Top Man Ltd has posted own accounts from 2013 showing that the Topshop/Topman brands account for about 50% of group revenues but an astonishing 75% of profits.

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