Business rates pain prompts Select Fashion to rethink London expansion

A Turkish entrepreneur who tried to buy BHS last year, on Friday warned a jump in business rate bills has made him rethink plans to expand his Select Fashion retail chain in London.

Cafer Mahiroglu said there were plans to open 20 more UK shops this year.

He said: “The new business rates and high rents in London stand as a really serious problem. This has made us re-evaluate our plans for expansion there.”

Accounts for the 184-stores group showed it plunged into the red in the year to June 2016. Select, which has branches in Camden and Walthamstow, made a loss of £1.6 million last year, compared with a £701,051 profit a year earlier.

The former TOWIE sponsor blamed the loss on increased marketing spend and higher import costs.

Sales fell nearly 6% to £81.3 million, but the retailer said it has bounced back and expects 15% growth in the current financial year.

Mahiroglu started as a rag trader in Stoke Newington and took over Select Fashion in 2008.

Last year he teamed up with Matalan founder John Hargreaves to make an offer to buy collapsed BHS but no deal was agreed.