It has not been a good year for the UK-based retail company, Ted Baker.
Post the #MeToo debacle forced out their founder Ray Kelvin in March, Ted Baker has faced numerous hurdles and has issued its second warning on profits in 4 months, the previous being in February.
Ted Baker expects an underlying pre-tax profit of 50 million to 60 million pounds as opposed to the 70 million predicted by analysts. The British high street retailer saw its shares fall down almost 14 per cent this year in addition to the 43 per cent last year due to tough competition from online retailers.
Ongoing market uncertainty due to Brexit has not only made for difficult trading condition but impacted the consumers who now want to reign in their expenditure. The brand is conscious of its image and therefore, unable to ward off competition that is offering elevated levels of promotional activity for its Spring/Summer collections. Owing to these factors, the brand has seen a 26 per cent slump in its growth this year.
The brand which is popular in North America is faced with another setback due to unseasonable weather conditions in the region. The company anticipates that such market uncertainty will continue to plague trading and profits for all the retailers throughout the year.
Ted Baker saw the appointment of Lindsay Page, a long-time finance head for the company, as Kelvin’s successor and the management was actively focusing on cost control and new product initiatives to turnaround results for the latter half of the year.
Ted Baker’s profit warning comes at a challenging time, with numerous collapses of high street chains in the first half of 2019, continuing the trend from 2018.
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