BHS owner Sir Philip Green is considering the sale of the struggling department store.

The company, which has around 10 shops employing hundreds of staff in Scotland, has received several approaches from prospective owners.

BHS forms part of Sir Philip's Arcadia Group, which includes TopShop, Burton and Evans and has 180 stores employing almost 12,000 staff.

However, unlike some of the tycoon's other brands, the business has struggled customers during the downturn losing hundreds of millions of pounds.

It lost £69.6 million on sales of £675.7m in 2013, partly because of write-downs on falling sores, according to Companies House.

Sir Philip, who had turned down previous approaches to sell the 87 year old firm has reportedly had a 'handful' of offers now.

An Arcardia spokesperson said: "We have had several approaches on BHS over the past few months. It is now the company's plan to explore whether any of these can be brought to a conclusion."

Leading City analysis Nick Bubb told the BBC: "The worrying losses at BHS now risk dragging down the whole of Arcadia, so, after a difficult autumn season, it is not surprising that the great man is now trying to cut it loose."

Sir Philip's decision to begin an auction for the retailer comes as there are signs of a recovery driven by low oil prices, and low inflation, which is leaving consumers with slightly more spending power.

He paid £200m from the Storehouse group for the chain, which was then known as British Home Stores in 2000.

It helped turn him into a billionaire when he turned the business around before enabling him to buy Arcadia, which gave Sir Philip a network of more than 2,000 UK-wide stores.

However, Sir Philip has made Topshop his priority as he recruited the likes of Kate Moss to model for its garments.

Primark has previously shown interest in BHS, and a US hedge fund, Apollo and turnaround outfit Hilco, which bought HMV, are thought to have previously been interested.

Two of BHS's flagship stores are in prime positions in Glasgow, at the St Enoch Shopping Centre and in Sauchiehall Street.