Ted Baker encouraged by recent trading and online growth

The fashion retailer posted a year-on-year fall in retail sales of 50% to £51m. In stores, revenues plunged 79% to £15.8m, but online was ahead 35% to £35.2m. Group revenue declined 55% to £60.9m.

The performance, covering 11 weeks to July 18, was better than the base case scenario set out by the retailer in June. Ted Baker said it reflected “a more dynamic trading stance since the beginning of the year, reflecting more sophisticated cross-category merchandising, refreshed social media activity and increased marketing spend”.

Ted Baker reported that “online trading has remained significantly ahead of expectations” as shoppers increasingly used the channel, which has grown rapidly across retail during the Covid outbreak.

By last weekend 95% of Ted Baker’s stores had reopened and most of them had been operational for the past four weeks. Like-for-like store sales were down 50% versus last year for the last four weeks of the reporting period.

Ted Baker chief executive Rachel Osborne said: “I am pleased with the early progress we have made in driving operational excellence and cost efficiencies. Our customers are engaging with the brand and responding to our Covid-19 promotional activity, as evidenced by our resilient trading over the past 11 weeks.

“Our performance is encouraging, but I caution that it is still early days, and we have a substantial amount of work to do over the next 12 months against a backdrop of significant uncertainty in the world.

“However, the brand has an exciting future, and I am looking forward with cautious optimism that the initiatives currently under way across all areas of the business will bear fruit over the next 12 months.”