Top financial PR firm cuts ties with Sir Philip Green amid conduct allegations
Sir Philip Green’s financial PR firm is set to jump ship tomorrow in the latest corporate blow to the embattled mogul, just days after Baroness Karren Brady quit as chair of his retail empire.
City PM understands that Green’s communications consultancy Maitland/AMO is ending its relations with the scandal-hit tycoon tomorrow evening amid mounting public pressure over a swathe of sexism allegations.
The decision to drop Green as a client is the latest setback to hit the billionaire since The Telegraph reported a series of sexual harassment and racial abuse allegations against the Topshop owner, who denies any wrongdoing.
The news comes days after apprentice star Brady resigned as the chair of the mogul’s holding company Taveta Investments in the wake of the accusations.
One senior financial agency director told City PM last night: "You judge a company by the company it keeps. Green has proved now with all the stuff that has come out that he is simply more trouble than he’s worth. No one in the industry envies Maitland with the job they’ve had."
Read more: MPs ratchet up the pressure on Sir Philip Green as Karren Brady resigns
On the same day as Brady resigned it emerged that a chair of an influential committee of MPs had summoned both Green and Brady to parliament to give evidence over the reported use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), which have been at the centre of harassment claims surrounding the Topshop owner.
Tory MP Maria Miller has called on both Green and Brady to appear before Parliament’s Women and Equalities Select Committee for a potential grilling, although Green has yet to respond to the letter.
The fresh onslaught of public scrutiny comes as Green’s retail empire faces a series of challenges on the high street.
Green’s fashion group Arcadia, which owns brands such as Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, is currently being reviewed by advisers from accountancy firm Deloitte, with concerns that the tycoon will have to scale back his high street portfolio amid higher costs and threats from online retail rivals.