It has come to light that the Barclay family, owners of The Very Group, took more than £100 million of dividends from the business in the months leading up to bankers chasing long-overdue debts. To tackle rising debts, the Barclays are expected to float a sale for their online shopping empire in the coming months.
A total of £107.7 million was taken out of the holding company for Very Group in 2022 as Lloyds Banking Group prepared to send in receivers to chase vast unpaid loans totalling £1.2 billion the following summer, according to The Telegraph.
The was made up of three individual payments including £40 million of dividends, £28.8 million of “distributed” cash and a separate £38.9 million payout from the Barclay family’s property investment arm Trenport.
This was revealed in the recently published annual report for Shop Direct Holdings Limited (which was rebranded at The Very Group in 2020). Its financial report was filed 15 months late on Companies House and the company’s accounts for 2023 are also still currently overdue.
Directors Aidan and Howard Barclay admitted that its growing debts have caused “uncertainty over the future of the company” as well as the family’s wider business empire.
As a resolution, the Barclay family are hoping to pay off creditors by selling The Very Group in the coming months. Back in October, the group appointed investment bankers to prepare an auction scheduled to commence in early 2025.
