Ted Baker faces bleak future - 'Very likely that stores will close down'

Sky News reported that Ted Baker’s British operations have ‘veered to the brink of administration’ after a licensing partnership was abandoned.

Ted Baker has stores at Gatwick and Heathrow Airports.

The Sky News report read: “No Ordinary Designer Label, which trades under the Ted Baker brand, filed a notice of intention to appoint Teneo Financial Advisory as administrators on Tuesday.

"The move is expected to result in store closures and job losses, although the scale of both was unclear.

“Although jobs are at risk, no redundancies would be announced on day one of the insolvency process, according to a source.”

Nick Stockley, partner at leading Sussex law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, specialises in commercial law.

He said: "Ted Bakers’ high street shops are loss making and it seems very likely that these stores will close down in due course.

“If any shops survive then they are likely to be few and far between.

“The surviving stores will be those which are bought from the current owners.

“The Ted Baker brand looks like it will survive, but its products will be sold either through other outlets or online rather than through Ted Baker shops.”

Mr Stockley said the Ted Baker business has been ‘downsizing for some time’ and so ‘these steps may come as no surprise’.

He added: “Administrators can continue to trade the business in the short-term, so they can try to sell what stock they can before closing the shops.

“One should expect ‘everything must go’ sales at the Ted Baker outlets.

“The administrators say that the stores will remain open during administration, which means they may stay open for a further year, however, it seems likely that the shops will gradually close down over the next 12 months.”

The lawyer said the administrators will also be looking for buyers of the Ted Baker assets such as stock and goodwill.

“Some of the people employed at the high street branches may keep their jobs in the short-term whilst the business trades in administration, however, as the shops gradually close the employees will be made redundant,” Mr Stockley said.

“Other businesses which face significant financial pressures like Ted Baker are best served taking advice from insolvency professionals sooner rather than later. Ted Baker may be able to salvage something from these difficult circumstances, whereas a business that tries to plough on in the hope its situation will improve, is much more likely to lose everything.”

Ted Baker, which was bought by ABG for about £210m, delisted from the London stock market in 2022.

Sky stated that its sources said Ted Baker would continue to trade during the insolvency process.