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

[Old Greg]

What he did was legal.

The law should have been changed after Rover.

Nothing a good dose of retrospective legislation wouldn't cure.

[sasguru]

He is BMW here...

The buyers did what appears to me similar thing -

"The Guardian has calculated that Green and his family collected £586m in dividends, rental payments and interest on loans during their 15-year ownership of the retailer. Meanwhile, BHS made payments of more than £25m to Retail Acquisitions, the consortium led by Chappell, in the 13 months since it bought the company. These payments were for management fees, salaries, professional fees, and interest on loans."

They just did not have as much time as the guys at Rover and on the other hand there wasn't much to strip in Bhs I reckon...

NOtice how the Guardian reports it "during their 15 year ownership" conveniently forgetting that those divis were taken before 2005 when BHS was fine. He actually did turn it around from being a basket case to making a profit.

[PurpleGorilla]

They should give him a CBE.

C**t of the British Empire.

[sasguru]

They should give him a CBE.

C**t of the British Empire.

They should give you a COC.

Cretin of CUK.

[sasguru]

Having said all of which I hope he's "persuaded" to cough up 200 million at least to go into the pension pot.

[AtW]

NOtice how the Guardian reports it "during their 15 year ownership" conveniently forgetting that those divis were taken before 2005 when BHS was fine. He actually did turn it around from being a basket case to making a profit.

I don't think BHS was fine back then, who do you think would sell asset for £200 mln when it's fine and £400 mln dividends can be taken out soon after purchase???

[BrilloPad]

Having said all of which I hope he's "persuaded" to cough up 200 million at least to go into the pension pot.

I remember Farepak. 35mm would have put that right. 2 years later they threw 325bn at QE......

Philip Green only cares for money and nothing else.

[sasguru]

I don't think BHS was fine back then, who do you think would sell asset for £200 mln when it's fine and £400 mln dividends can be taken out soon after purchase???

Last dividend he took was 40 million in 2004 when profits were 110 million on sales of 890 million. It had made profits steadily since he bought it for 200 million in 2000. And I guess he took it all out in the first 4 years.
It made profit for a few years more
Could argue he should have invested it.
Sadly we don't have the German way of family owned business here.

[darmstadt]

Sadly we don't have the German way of family owned business here.

You might want to have a look at the saga of Karstadt (similar to Debenhams) that has been going on here first. They're now making a profit after being declared insolvent at one point. You might also want to look at the family owned Schlecker which was a real **** up by the family

[AtW]

Last dividend he took was 40 million in 2004 when profits were 110 million on sales of 890 million. It had made profits steadily since he bought it for 200 million in 2000. And

So he bought asset that was making steady profits to the tune of £110 mln per year for £200 mln??? The price should have been at least 5 times more in this case.