Ted Baker has now officially declared that 11 of its stores in the area would close, a few weeks after administrators were appointed for its UK arm, No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL).
By 19th April, it is anticipated that all sites would close, which will result in the loss of 120 store positions. Furthermore, 25 head office positions have also been eliminated “due to an essential decrease in central expenses.”
The closing locations are “all currently loss-making,” and after a review, Teneo, the designated administrator, says they are “deemed to have no prospect of being returned to profitability, even with material rent reductions.”
Their closure, therefore, are part of a “necessary step” to ensure the business can go on to deliver a profitable trading performance in the future.
The company that owns Ted Baker’s intellectual property, Authentic Brands Group, stated that it is presently looking for a new operating partner to run the brand’s e-commerce and retail operations in the UK and Europe.
The administration of NODL was made public earlier in March and resulted from a tumultuous relationship between Authentic and AARC, with which it had previously terminated an agreement over the Dutch company’s “consistent failures” to “meet agreed financial obligations.”
The administration occurred almost two years after Ted Baker was acquired by Authentic for £ 211 million, including all of the brand’s outstanding share capital, in a transaction approved by a UK court under the Companies Act.
