Ted Baker share price: what’s the outlook as profit warning issued as high street sales struggle?

Ted Baker was issued a profit warning last week in its latest trading update, where the British fashion retailer blamed consumer uncertainty in key markets and elevated promotional activity for the ‘extremely difficult’ environment the company has endured this financial year.

The troubled retailer, who saw its founder, Ray Kelvin, step down in March over harassment allegations, said that underlying annual pre-tax profit forecasts for the year to be in the range of £50 million to £60 million.

Ted Baker stock takes a major tumble after profit warning

Over the last seven days of trading, Ted Baker has seen its stock lose more than 30% of its value, with the company’s share price trading at £8.29 a share as of 12:05 GMT on Wednesday, down from £13.46 a share at the start of last week.

Total retail sales, including e-commerce, decreased by 0.3% for the 19-week period to June 8, with the company blaming ‘difficult and unpredictable’ conditions and intense discounting across its global markets for it poor performance.

Tough year ahead for Ted Baker

Ted Baker’s management team anticipates that consumer uncertainty in key markets and challenging trading conditions will persist and likely impact trade for the group and its trading partners for the remainder of the year, the company said.

‘Ted Baker remains an outstanding brand and, underpinned by the strength of our flexible business model, including a relatively low number of own stores that showcase the brand, we remain confident in our long-term growth prospects,’ Ted Baker CEO Lindsay Page said.

‘Over recent years, we have made a number of significant investments to ensure that the Group is well positioned to continue to adapt to structural changes in the retail sector,’ she added.

Ted Baker intends to announce its interim results for the 28 weeks ending 10 August 2019 in early October 2019.