Sir Philip Green must repay £400m or lose knighthood, says MP

[SimonMac]

So how far back should you be forced to give up dividends? BP lost $4.1bn last year, does that mean I have to give all my dividends back?

The dividends were paid in good faith, at a time where the company was making money and covered its pension liability with a surplus, by all means take him to count for the bad deal in selling the company to a bunch of eejits, but don't penalise the man for making hay while the sun shined.

[bobspud]

He last took dividends in 2004 when BHS was profitable and there was surplus in the pension fund.
It was profitable until 2007 and the recession.
BUt hey why let the facts get in the way: because now what everyone seems to want is a poverty stricken insular Corbynistic republic in the North Sea. We can all be teachers and do each other's tattoos.

He discussed the purchase with Robert Peston in Peston's book after the crash. At the time the standard practice for venture capitalist buyouts was to saddle the victim with massive loans then take a huge dividend out of the loan. The view was that needing to repay the debt made the company focus more and went against the corporation tax Im not sure he did that in this case because he was crowing about it not being fair to deny the tax payers the corporation tax. That said I think there does need to be a more grounded evaluation of what is actually his fault and what was as you say a market condition. One could argue that having 400m in the reserves would have paid for a lot of company restructuring and repositioning when it became obvious that its market had died. Even Littlewoods stopped selling crap on the high street and moved to online inflated tat selling...

Sad as it is maybe it was just their time.

[bobspud]

Oh and Austin Reed has also gone into administration.

Yes thats because they stopped making decent garments and followed the rest of the market down the tulip suit plug hole while trying to charge a premium for them.
There isn't a single quality retailer that offers a good suit these days.

[BrilloPad]

So how far back should you be forced to give up dividends? BP lost $4.1bn last year, does that mean I have to give all my dividends back?

The dividends were paid in good faith, at a time where the company was making money and covered its pension liability with a surplus, by all means take him to count for the bad deal in selling the company to a bunch of eejits, but don't penalise the man for making hay while the sun shined.

Bob Dudley is under a lot of shareholder scrutiny for his pay rise.

Philip Green takes the role of BMW in the Rover scandal. I don't think he did anything wrong.

[SueEllen]

Not another one, surely?

Yep on "fashion" and homeware.

Their "fashion" is so obsolete even 70 year olds won't buy it.

Their homeware offerings are over priced for what they are.

[SueEllen]

Yes thats because they stopped making decent garments and followed the rest of the market down the tulip suit plug hole while trying to charge a premium for them.
There isn't a single quality retailer that offers a good suit these days.

Planned obsolescence.

They want you to buy a new suit every year or so. Like with shoes that aren't suppose to last more than 3 months and boots that are only suppose to last one season.

[sasguru]

It stinks worse than BP's gimp suit.

Disappointing. I didn't have you down as a non-analytic knee-jerk follower.

[bobspud]

Planned obsolescence.

They want you to buy a new suit every year or so. Like with shoes that aren't suppose to last more than 3 months and boots that are only suppose to last one season.

I think there are three main phases of a mans suit.

11 - 21 bought for weddings light weigh and won't stand up to more than once a month use. - Top shop and Burtons were good at this in their day.
20 - 30 Gets abused and worn in an office - Marks and Spencer were very good at this.
30 + thats what a tailor is there for.

All three segments fit the buy one or two suits a year model. However if you are selling crap in the 11-21 segment while trying to charge 30+ money you are going to come unstuck and £5-600 will get you a bespoke suite if you know where to look. I have at least one of mine that is 10 years old and still looks new it hasn't stopped me buying more suits its just that it lasts properly.

BHS and Austin Reeds both suffered from quality / price issues

[BrilloPad]

Planned obsolescence.

boobs that are only suppose to last one season.

That's the way I treat my wives.....

[sasguru]

Of course he didn't. Fine, upstanding chap that he is.

You got any evidence that he isn't or just a "feeling" that makes you want to join the pitchfork crowd?