Arcadia has opened a new warehouse dedicated to Topshop and Topman products as Sir Philip Green ramps up efforts to separate the chains from the rest of his fashion group.
The new automated depot in Daventry, Northamptonshire will only handle Topshop and Topman orders, according to The Sunday Times.
Topman orders are already being processed in Daventry, with Topshop set to transfer there in the new year.
Such orders were previously managed from Arcadia’s Milton Keynes warehouse.
The move comes after it emerged that Arcadia boss Ian Grabiner had been charged with untangling a number of shared functions within the group to allow Topshop and Topman to operate separately.
Such a move would pave the way for Arcadia’s other high street businesses, including Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Evans and Wallis, to be sold off.
However, a source close to Arcadia denied that the warehouse had been built to help facilitate such a break-up of Green’s group. He told The Sunday Times that the facility would simply support Topshop’s growing wholesale business and added that the depot had been planned for three years.
Topshop now wholesales its products to a number of third parties including Zalando, Next and Asos.
Rumours of an Arcadia break-up have been rife for months as Green seeks to maximise returns from his fashion empire.
Arcadia is pressing ahead with a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which will see it shutter 48 stores and cut rents at 194 other locations.
The group is having to radically restructure its operations after slumping to a loss of £170m last year.
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