Arcadia, the owner of Top Shop and BhS, reported a 38% fall in annual profits to £133m and says it expects to close up to 260 stores in the next few years.
Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green told the BBC the closures would come as store leases came up for renewal.
It also reported same-store UK sales down by 1.8%.
The group, which owns Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, said it expected heavy discounts on the high street this Christmas.
DIXONS LOOK TO DIFFERENTIATE ON CUSTOMER SERVICE
The electrical goods firm Dixons Retail says its focus on improving service is marking it out from its competitors.
First-half losses before tax and one-off items at the group, which owns Currys and PC World, widened to £25.3m loss from £6.9m the year before.
But the fall in same-store sales slowed from 7% in the first three months to 3% in the second quarter.
Dixon's chief executive said that the company's better service strategy was bringing gains in market share.
US RETAILERS HOPE FOR AN AFTER THANKSGIVING BOOM
US retailers hope hordes of bargain-hunters can lift the economic gloom as the holiday shopping season begins.
After polishing off Thanksgiving turkeys, millions of Americans will head to the shops on Friday for the busiest shopping day of the year.
Black Friday - so-called as it is when many retailers head out of the red and into the black - sees many stores open at midnight, or even earlier this year.
Half of the entire US population is expected to hit the shops this weekend.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) said 152 million people would visit stores in search of bargains this weekend, up 10% from last year.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of US economic activity.
BIG US MERGER WITHDRAWN
US telecoms giant AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have cast doubt over the $39bn (£25bn) sale of T-Mobile USA by withdrawing their merger application to the industry regulator.
AT&T also said it would include a $4bn charge in its fourth-quarter accounts to cover any potential compensation due if the deal does not go ahead.
The US Justice Department moved to block the sale at the end of August.
The two firms said they would focus on clearing the deal with the government.
GOOGLE AXING PRODUCTS
Google has announced that it is dropping seven more products in an effort to simplify its range of services.
The out-of-season "spring clean" brings an end to services including Google Wave, Knol and Google Gears.
It is the third time that the US firm has announced a cull of several of its products at the same time after they had failed to take off.
Experts said the strategy might put off users from signing up to new services.
