Ted Baker administrators to shed 250 jobs

TED BAKER is to cut almost 250 jobs as it shuts down one in three of its stores across the UK, the fashion retailer’s administrators have said.

Eleven loss-making Ted Baker locations will close by Friday April 19, the restructuring firm Teneo announced yesterday. It said a further four had cancelled their leases before its UK and Europe retail entity, No Ordinary Designer Label, was placed into administration last month, and will close in the coming weeks.

Around 245 jobs will be lost in total as a result of the closures, with 25 of those at the company’s head office.

Authentic Brands Group, the American owners of Ted Baker’s UK and European retail operations, put the company into administration in late March saying it had accumulated “a significant level of arrears”, for which it blamed its former owners, the Dutch company AARC.

It is now looking for a new owner for the retail business.

Teneo said that after a review it had determined that the 11 stores “have no prospect of being returned to profitability, even with material rent reductions”.

It added: “Their closure is believed to be a constructive and necessary step to ensure the business can deliver a profitable trading performance in the future.” The company runs 46 Ted Baker stores in the UK as well as concessions in airports and department stores.

The closures are largely in city centre locations but do not include Ted Baker’s flagship store in Covent Garden.

Benji Dymant, No Ordinary Designer Label’s joint administrator, said: “Ted Baker is an iconic British brand with strong partners around the world.

“These store closures, while having a regrettable impact on valued team members, will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress its discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand in order to bring the business back to health.

“We would like to thank Ted Baker team members and partners for their ongoing efforts and support at this difficult time,” he added.

‘These store closures, while having a regrettable impact on team members, will improve the business’