The fashion retailer Ted Baker is to axe at least 500 jobs – more than a quarter of its UK workforce – as the pandemic continues to batter the high street.
It is understood that about 200 of the roles will go at the retailer’s London headquarters, the Ugly Brown Building, with the remainder from its shops – it has 46 in the UK and Europe – and store concessions.
A spokesman for the retailer said it could confirm that “as part of our continuing transformation plan, we have been assessing the appropriate level of staffing across our business and are in consultation with affected colleagues”. Both part-time and full-time roles are affected.
The move, first reported by the Sunday Times, caps a difficult few months for the business. At the start of June it revealed that the coronavirus pandemic had caused revenues to slump by 36% between 26 January 2020 and 2 May, with department stores and branches closed by a government order.
These latest job losses are on top of 160 already announced in February. Those reductions, predominantly affecting office workers, were described as the first stage of a restructuring designed to put the business back on track. In January this year, the company had a UK workforce of 2,025.
Ted Baker reported a loss before tax of £79.9m in the year to 25 January, before the pandemic started to affect sales, and a 1.4% fall in revenues. That compares to a £30.7m profit a year before.
The turnaround plan for the business, launched in June, included broadening the brand’s offering to make its clothing “more relevant to all day/week occasions” and selling more accessories and shoes. The company also said it would invest more in updating its website, which had offered a bright spot during the lockdown.
Commenting on the latest cuts, the spokesman said: “We have not taken this decision lightly and would like to thank all our colleagues for their hard work and commitment. However, we believe this is necessary in order to transform Ted Baker and create a more sustainable business in the future.”
