| Last October it was champagne all round - magnums of Laurent-Perrier to be precise - when Green, 52, called a breakfast meeting of the 200 top managers in Arcadia, the retail business he owns that includes such high-street names as TopShop and Dorothy Perkins. A celebration was certainly called for: profits had doubled to nearly £228m in the year since Green had taken over the group for £850m. It looks likely to be the second coup of the century for the man who also turned around the separate Bhs fashion business with similarly spectacular results after a £200m takeover in 2000. Monaco-based Green, who made his name as a discount retailer in the 1980s and early 1990s, became probably the fastest billionaire in history with the Bhs deal, and the company continues to perform strongly. In 2002-03, according to analysts, it made a £123.3m profit and is easily worth £1 billion in the light of recent City deals. That values Green's 94% stake at £940m. At Arcadia we assume the debt associated with the takeover is well under £250m and it should make more profit than last year's £228m. As much smaller groups such as New Look are being bought out by managers at very fancy prices, a £2.25 billion price tag seems eminently achievable for Arcadia, which values Green's 92% holding at £2.07 billion. So Green's stakes in his two main businesses are worth £3.01 billion in total. But last year we recorded another £400m of personal assets ranging from the fruits of property deals at Sears and his first £158m dividend from Bhs, to dozens of smaller deals. He was at it again last year, making £13m from the sale of his stake in the Mk One retail chain. But his big earner last year was another £201m dividend cheque from Bhs, which means his £400m personal asset pile has climbed above £600m now. Any investment income on that cash pile should more than match Green's spending, but we take a conservative line and add only £600m to the £3.01 billion of assets at Bhs and Arcadia.
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2003: £1,850m
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