Ted Baker and Inditex upbeat as sales surge
TED BAKER dispelled some of the retail gloom with a surge in sales yesterday and said it was “well-placed” for opportunities and challenges ahead as it plots the next stage of its expansion abroad.
The fashion brand said revenues increased 14.9 per cent to £215.6m last year, helped by a good performance across all of its clothes ranges.
Chief executive Ray Kelvin, who founded the business 25 years ago making men’s shirts, said the rise in sales was due to “doing what we always have” and “the attention to detail down to the very last button.”
Pre-tax profits fell slightly below analyst expectations to £24.3m.
Kelvin shrugged off a £2.8m exceptional cost as “unexceptional” in that it related to rent paid ahead of its new stores in Japan and New York as well as set-up costs related to its expansion into China.
Meanwhile, the world’s leading clothes retailer, Zara-owner Inditex, announced upbeat early spring sales yesterday as it reported a 12 per cent rise in annual profit driven by aggressive expansion into fast-growing Asia.