Ted Baker PLC (LON:TED), the fashion clothing group, said sales fell by 55% in its latest quarter even though it stepped up promotions and marketing.
At the weekend, the group unveiled plans to cut at least 500 jobs, over 25% of its workforce in the UK, as part of a restructuring after the impacct of the coronavirus pandemic and to sort inventory problems it faced beforehand.
The job cuts and store closures will save £12mln in the current financial year and £27m on an annualised basis, said chief executive Rachael Osborne in a trading update.
The coronavirus lockdown forced the closure of its stores, which have now started to reopen with 95% now trading again and around 75% open for the past four weeks.
Store sales fell 79% in the 11 weeks to July 18, 2020. Online helped offset this partially with e-commerce revenues up by 35% to £35.2mln and retail sales overall dropping 50% to £51mln. Wholesale revenues dropped by 75%.
Sales in the previous 14 weeks had dropped by 34% with online sales up by 50%.
The group raised £95mln in June and sold its head office for £72mln to provide funds for its recovery programme.
Rachel Osborne, Ted Baker's chief executive, said it now had a strong balance sheet and was making good progress on its strategic targets for 2023 of 5% revenue growth and underlying profits margin of 7%-10%.
“Our performance is encouraging, but I caution that it is still early days, and we have a substantial amount of work to do over the next 12 months against a backdrop of significant uncertainty in the world,“ she added.