Retail

Karren Brady quits Philip Green’s holding company


Karren Brady has stepped down as chair of Taveta Investments, the holding company for Philip Green’s Arcadia empire, just two weeks after saying she would remain at the company for the good of its employees.

In a brief statement, Taveta said that Baroness Brady and Sharon Brown, another non-executive director, had stepped down and thanked them for their contribution to the company. No reason was given for either departure.

Baroness Brady, a Conservative peer, television personality and forceful advocate of women in business, was appointed chair in 2017 with a remit to “beef up corporate oversight” and “sort out” governance issues. She originally joined the Taveta board in 2010. Ms Brown joined the board in 2017.

In recent months she has come under pressure to speak out about accusations of racial and sexual harassment made against Sir Philip, who chairs Arcadia itself. He has denied the allegations, which included telling a black employee that he was still “throwing spears in the jungle” and making frequent comments about the appearance and weight of female staff.

Just two weeks ago, Baroness Brady told the Telegraph newspaper she would remain in post out of a sense of duty to Arcadia’s employees — one of whom is her daughter, who models for Topshop on Instagram. “I hope you would agree that walking away is the easy thing to do; staying in the role and ensuring the company is robust going forward is much harder,” she said.

Retail industry observers speculated that the departures could presage more revelations about Sir Philip’s personal conduct, or be related to a downturn in trading, or about matters of strategy. There has been persistent — though vehemently denied — speculation that Sir Philip is looking to sell Arcadia.

Her agent said there would be no further comment and Baroness Brady could not be reached for comment. Sir Philip said her departure was “nothing sinister” but declined to comment further.

Privately owned Arcadia’s brands, which include Miss Selfridge and Topshop, are believed to have suffered a poor Christmas amid intense competition and widespread discounting on the UK’s high streets. The British Retail Consortium, of which Arcadia is a member, has said that Christmas 2018 was the worst since the financial crisis.

Taveta said it was “in active discussions with individuals who have significant relevant experience” and expected to make further announcements regarding the board shortly. Taveta still has two women on its board: finance director Gillian Hague, who was appointed last autumn, and Arcadia’s chief operating officer Siobhan Forey. It added that there had been no changes to the governance of any of the subsidiary companies.



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