Sir Philip Green’s fashion retail empire has collapsed into administration. 

The Topshop tycoon’s Arcadia Group appointed joint administrators from Deloitte on Monday. 

The company, acquired by Sir Philip in 2002 for £850 million, owns high-street brands Topshop, Burton, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins and runs 444 shops in the UK and another 22 abroad.

It employs 13,000 people, with some 9,294 members of staff on furlough. No redundancies have been announced and stores will continue to trade.

Deloitte said it expects to find one or two buyers “to ensure the future success of the businesses”. 

Arcadia boss Ian Grabiner said the “forced closure of our stores for prolonged periods, has severely impacted on trading across all of our brands.”

Arcadia traces its history back to the Burton Group, a menswear brand launched by 18-year-old Lithuanian émigré Meshe David Osinsky in 1903 with a borrowed £100. 

He later changed his name to Montague Burton and was knighted in 1931 for services to industrial relations. 

Sir Montague, who died in 1952, pioneered a welfare system for his employees, providing workers an on-site dentist, eye specialist and food.