Monsoon boss bags £27m dividend despite tumbling sales
Monsoon boss Peter Simon has been paid a dividend of £26.9m, despite the retail chain reporting tumbling profits.
In the UK, Monsoon, that also owns fashion chain Accessorize, recorded profits of just £847,000 for the year to 29 August 2015, down from £28m worth of profit recorded in the prior 12 months.
Announcing the numbers, the retailer said last week that its performance represented “a very disappointing set of figures”, blaming a combination of bad weather, increased competition, and the poor performance of the brand.
And founder Peter Simon's parent company, Drillgreat Limited, which owns and operates the Monsoon and Accessorize chains in the UK and internationally, declared a loss of £155m, following a profit of £52.3m in the prior year.
However, despite the poor performance, Simon was still paid an interim dividend of £26.9m during the year, up from £21m for 2014.
The retailer appointed chief executive Paul Allen on a permanent basis to work on a re-organisation plan in January, with a specific remit to reduce costs, manage its UK estate, and increase the number of concessions with department stores.