Today in retail: Sir Philip Green pays up

Green has already placed £343m in cash in escrow and has agreed to pay up to another £20m to help with the costs of establishing the new scheme.

Green said that the “voluntary” payment achieved a “significantly better outcome than entering the PPF”.

He added: “Once again I would like to apologise to the BHS pensioners for this last year of uncertainty, which was clearly never the intention when the business was sold in March 2015.

“I am also happy to confirm that any of the pensioners that have faced cuts over the last year will now be brought back to their original BHS starting-level pension and will all be made whole.”

The news may come as welcome relief for 20,000 pensioners up and down the country but it’s certainly been long enough in the making.

Also today, Jones Bootmaker is up for sale, Poundland has notched up a good set of results and Mothercare has restructured its senior team, while Staples owner Hilco Capital is set to rebrand all 106 UK stores to Office Outlet by the end of this week.

Quote of the day

“I hope that this solution puts their minds at rest and closes this sorry chapter for them.”

Sir Philip Green on settling the BHS pension deficit

Today in numbers

£343m

The amount Sir Philip Green has paid in cash to settle the department store chain’s debt

29

The number of months since consumer spending power grew as slowly as it did in January, according to the Asda Income Tracker.

Wednesday’s agenda

A couple of results to look out for tomorrow, with Zalando and Secret Sales both reporting.

Becky Waller-Davies, fashion reporter