Rymans and La Senza owner Theo Paphitis has hit out at the culture of profit-led private equity retail ownership which he says has “damaged” the sector.

The star of Dragon’s Den made the comments during an event to raise the profile of the Skillsmart Retail Apprenticeships scheme this afternoon.

He said: “A lot of retailers ended up in the hands of leveraged businesses whose whole ideal was to cut costs to the bone, cut staff, increase profits and pay the banks back.

“That whole world has ended, it’s gone, it’s changed. If any damage was done to the retail sector it was done in this climate.”

Paphitis said that the sector now needed to return to its core values if it was to recover.

“Now it’s back to basics,” he added.

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