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The joint administrators of No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), retailers of the Ted Baker brand in the UK and Europe, have announced that 11 stores will close and cease trading by 19 April.
News of the closures follows the appointment of Benji Dymant and Daniel Smith of Teneo Financial Advisory as joint administrators on 22 March of the Ted Baker brand.
Authentic Brands Group, which owns the intellectual property of Ted Baker, is currently in the process of finding a new operating partner for the retail and e-commerce business in the UK and across Europe.
The closures are expected to result in the loss of approximately 120 store roles. A further 25 head office roles have also been made redundant due to “a necessary reduction in central costs”.
Dymant and Smith’s review of the business reported that all the closing stores are currently loss-making, and deemed them to have no prospect of being returned to profitability, “even with material rent reductions”.
According to the joint administrators, the closures are “a constructive and necessary step in ensuring the business can deliver a profitable trading performance in the future”.
The stores to be closed as part of the administration are Birmingham Bullring; Bristol; Bromley; Cambridge; Exeter; Leeds; Liverpool One; London Bridge; Milton Keynes; Nottingham; and Oxford.
Dymant said: “Ted Baker is an iconic British brand with strong partners around the world. These store closures, whilst having a regrettable impact on valued team members, will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand to bring the business back to health.
“We would like to thank Ted Baker team members and partners for their ongoing efforts and support at this difficult time.”
Separately, the joint administrators were made aware upon appointment that, prior to their involvement, landlords had also served notice on four additional stores in Bicester, London – Brompton Road, London – Floral Street, and Manchester Trafford.
The stores will close in the coming weeks and result in a further 100 redundancies. Their closure is not expected to impact the ability to find a new operating partner.
