Topshop owner Sir Philip Green embarks on international push to turn around BHS as losses rise to £21m since last year

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Topshop owner Sir Philip Green is embarking on a major international push as he renews his efforts to turn around BHS in the UK.

The retail billionaire said his in-store restaurants may be hived off to an external company if talks with a well-known chain are successful.

The news came as his retail empire posted lacklustre full year results, with losses at BHS department stores deepening to £21million from £19.3million last year due to heavy promotions that boosted underlying sales by 3.6 per cent.

Lacklustre results: Losses at BHS department stores deepened to £21million from £19.3million last year

The loss dragged down the broader Arcadia Group which also owns Dorothy Perkins and Wallis.

Arcadia is part of investment firm Taveta which saw pre-tax profit fall to £143.1million from £148.1million, ignoring large one-off items that included writing down the value of property.

Sales grew to £2.7billion from £2.6billion and rose 0.1 per cent on an underlying basis. Sales from the group’s websites were up 13.4 per cent.

Green has been testing food halls in three BHS stores and has earmarked 80 new locations over the next 18 months, but has not yet decided whether to go ahead.

The group has expanded rapidly abroad, opening three new Topshop stores in America, taking the total to seven.

Big plans: Topshop owner Sir Philip Green is embarking on a major international push as he renews his efforts to turn around BHS in the UK

It has developed a partnership with department store Nordstrom in the US that has seen 55 concessions, which is likely to reach 70.

The first wholly-owned European Topshop will open in Amsterdam in February.

Green is looking at breaking into China and has identified four sites in Beijing and Shanghai.

Its UK business, along with rival retailers, has been affected by the warm autumn weather which saw sales fall 1.3pc in the first ten weeks of the new financial year.

Green said: ‘It is a competitive market in which people were walking around in T-shirts in mid-November,’ he said. ‘The retail industry continues to be fast changing, as the number of channels through which customers choose to purchase with us continually evolves, thus increasing the complexity of our operations and our need for efficiency and speed to market.’

He continues to review his property portfolio in the UK and over the past year has closed a net 64 stores and 213,000 square feet of space leaving the group with 2,311 shops.