Ted Baker dressed for success as profits rise
TED Baker, the international lifestyle fashion group that began in Scotland, said today that it had made a "satisfactory" start to its current trading year as it reported a ten per cent rise in profit for last year.
The firm, whose clothes were worn by superspy James Bond in Casino Royale, banked a pretax profit of £22.1 million on revenues that were up by 13.2 per cent at £142.2m over the year to January 26.
Helping drive the performance was strong international growth, including new openings in Australia, the US, the Middle East and Asia, as did the opening of the company’s first standalone womenswear store in Covent Garden. Overall retail floorspace expanded by just under ten per cent over the period. News of the performance followed strong trade in the runup to Christmas, when retail sales grew by 12.5 per cent in the period from November 1 to December 24.
Chief executive and founder Ray Kelvin also said that the company – which began as a single outlet in Glasgow in 1987 – had made a decent start to the current trading year, expressing optimism that it can continue to progress despite shaky high street conditions .
Mr Kelvin hailed 2007 as "another year of success" for the firm whose collections span menswear, womenswear, lingerie, footwear and watches.
And he added: "The reaction to our s
pring/summer 2008 collection has been encouraging, with retail sales ahead 16.1 per cent on the same period last year."
Across the UK and European retail operations, sales were ahead by 16.7 per cent to £93.3m. The group’s wholesale sales for the year were 7.5 per cent ahead of last year at £39.2m, while licence income grew by 32.5 per cent to £5.3m.
Over the course of 2008, the company, which has just over 100 outlets, plans to open another seven UK stores – including one in the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow – adding a further 30,000sq ft to its retail floorspace.
Meanwhile, in contrast, department store chain Debenhams today unveiled a halfyear sales dip. The 145outlet retailer said like for like sales during the six months to March 1 fell 0.7 per cent after "challenging" conditions in January and February. Total sales for the half year were up 1.2 per cent yearonyear.
Original source : Business.Scotsman.com
