Green agrees to increase Arcadia pension fund payments

Arcadia boss Philip Green has agreed to pay up to £50m a year into the fashion group's pension fund, UK media reported.

The fund reportedly has a deficit of around £200m. Arcadia has been contributing £25m a year, but the increase could see it clear the deficit in four years

However, unnamed sources cited by the Financial Times said the pension hole has deepened significantly since last year’s accounts, meaning a full recovery could take twice as long.

It is the second time in a week that Green has agreed to stump up cash for pensions. Last week he finally paid £363m to help bridge the £571m deficit at high street chain BHS which collapsed last year after after he sold it in 2015 to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1

The tycoon's reputation suffered serious damage after he stalled on helping the estimated 20,000 former BHS workers who faced reduced benefits. He also still faces calls to be stripped of his knighthood.

A parliamentary investigation concluded that BHS had been subject to “systematic plunder” by Green, Chappell and their coterie of advisers.

“Sir Philip systematically extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from BHS, paying very little tax and fantastically enriching himself and his family, leaving the company and its pension fund weakened to the point of the inevitable collapse of both,” the parliamentary committee said at the time.