Chris Blackhurst: Fewer and bigger is Sir Philip Green’s mantra for fashion retailing

Compared with the fireworks of the past, you could be forgiven for thinking Sir Philip Green has not been up to much these past few years.

In fact, as he told me, he’s been reshaping the business and equipping it for a very different retail landscape.

Of course PG’s been hit by the unseasonably warm autumn, same as the other domestic fashion retailers. And austerity Britain has done him no favours.

But while others have had to explain their disappointing results, Green has not had to obsess with short-term glitches, not had to answer to uncomprehending shareholders.

He’s long extolled the virtues of private ownership as giving him the flexibility and speed to do as he pleases. So while sales and profits across his group barely progressed in the past 12 months, they do not tell the story of what has been going on behind the scenes.

Green’s mantra is fewer, bigger stores and a smart online service. He’s closed a net 64 branches in the past year. While he’s got 2,311 outlets left in the UK, that number will reduce heavily as leases come up for renewal.

He may have shut doors but he’s opened others — capital expenditure was £105m (up from £87m previously). He’s realised that the future lies in large, brightly-lit, smartly laid-out stores in prime shopping locations — in major cities and out-of-town centres.

Unlike the small town shops, these “flagships” as he terms them, have seen their sales grow. Tellingly, they compete on level terms with the other giant stores he’s unveiled in the US, Hong Kong and Europe.

That’s where he’s taking his business, towards huge, sexy shops in the biggest cities and malls across the world. His reasoning is simple: destination-shopping is the future of fashion retailing; dull shops in boring high streets in out-of-the-way places have little to offer; and for those who can’t make the trip to the bright lights of the big city or shopping centre, there is online. Also, as far as the UK is concerned, he’s not doing anything — as he puts it — “silly”. There’s a general election coming and he does not know what that will bring, so his overriding watchwords for the coming months are “sensible” and “careful”.

But he is building cash again. He loves the shock, the dramatic gesture. Provided it fits with his concept of fewer, bigger stores and the internet, he could strike. He won’t say who he’s looking at, for obvious reasons, but he gives the impression of wanting to play again.

He may be a bit quieter than he once was, but only a bit. Make no mistake: Green is as fizzy as ever, flat results included.