Philip Green: £9m a week from Arcadia

Billionaire Philip Green is paying himself an astonishing £460million this year after record results today from his retail empire Arcadia.

News of the dividend payment - equivalent to almost £9million a week - stunned the City, as did the speed with which Mr Green has repaid the £808million debt he took on only two years ago to buy the business, which includes Top Shop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.

The debt was due to have been fully repaid in four years.

"This is pretty awesome stuff," said a jubilant Mr Green today.

"This is the quickest payback ever. Our 28,000 staff have done a brilliant job while I was distracted by trying to buy a few more shops." This was a reference to his abortive ?9.1billion bid for Marks & Spencer.

Mr Green was already one of the richest men in Britain, with a fortune estimated at £3.6 billion. Last week he took a £40million dividend from Bhs as the stores chain also announced record results.

The Arcadia dividend will be paid by the end of the year but Mr Green said: "It will be Christmas as usual in the Green household." Mr Green paid ?850million for Arcadia. Profits doubled in the first year under his ownership. He today announced a further 30 per cent jump last year, to a record £296.3 million. Analysts estimate the business is now worth more than £2.5billion.

Mr Green, 52, left school with no qualifications at 16 to work in an east London shoe importing firm. He moved into the rag trade when he was 21, backed by a £20,000 bank loan. He and his family own 92 per cent of Arcadia's shares.