Sir Philip & Lady Green

Wealth: £4.9 billion

In the news recently over his 55th birthday bash costing £6m on the Indian ocean island of Kunfunadhoo, newly knighted Sir Philip Green will be more concerned about the state of his retail empire. Profits fell at both his Arcadia and Bhs chains in 2005-06, and the days of record £1.2bn payments to his wife Tina Green - as owner of the 92% stake in Arcadia - are long gone.

Monaco-based Green who made his name as a discount retailer in the 1980s and early 1990s, rewrote all the rules about how to turn round businesses when he took over Bhs in 2000 for £200m. Within two years it was making £172m profit on £876m sales. In three years it paid out £423m in dividends, of which around £398m went to the Green family. But profits fell sharply in 2005-06 from £109.5m to £42.2m on sales down slightly at £860.5m. Green has pledged to reverse the decline and will invest £100m in freshening up Bhs stores, which face a fresh challenge from a revitalised Marks & Spencer.

Green admitted to taking his eye off the ball following the £850m acquisition of Arcadia in 2002. Arcadia, best known for its brands like Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, has been hugely successful but even it could not shrug off the retail environment. Profits at its parent company, Taveta Investments, fell from £253m to £202m in the year to September 2006, though sales rose 1.8% to £1.8bn.

Collectively, we value Bhs and Arcadia at around £3.1 bn on the latest figures. That values the Green family stake at nearly £2.9bn. We add another £1.6bn for past dividends and £400rn for other assets, homes, yachts and the proceeds of earlier property deals and the like that Green has worked on. In all, we reckon a £4.9bn figure is a fair valuation until we see signs of an upturn in the fortunes at Arcadia and Bhs.