Virgin Atlantic drops Branson in drink

SEPTEMBER 11 and its aftermath triggered heavy losses for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire, which includes a stake in airline Virgin Atlantic.

Branson's Barfair Holdings company lost almost £100m in a year, according to accounts filed at Companies House.

Barfair is the ultimate parent of several Branson businesses, including his music stores, soft drinks, bridal shops, Necker Island in the Caribbean and investment business Virgin Management.

VM had the largest loss with a gross deficit of £128.5m from sales of £16.1m in the year to January 2002. Branson companies often file accounts well after their reporting period.

Will Whitehorn, Branson's spokesman and a director of Barfair, said: 'Virgin Management invests in new businesses and that year we did the big writedown.'

He said this related to Virgin Retail, following its acquisition of the Our Price chain.

Whitehorn said VM 'also owns a portion of the loss in Virgin Atlantic, which made a big loss after September 11'. He said Barfair is currently trading profitably.

The official filing shows losses of £98.8m on £138m sales for the year to January 2002 when Barfair had a balance sheet deficit of £108m.

It is ultimately owned by several trusts, whose beneficiaries are Branson and his family.