(Alliance News) - Ted Baker PLC on Tuesday shared its progress to reinstate itself as a luxury brand after a highly promotional approach to sales last year.
Revenue in the 16 weeks to August 14 rose 50% year-on-year. Sales grew in line with expectations and indicated "encouraging progress", the London-based lifestyle and fashion retailer said.
It reported retail sales in the second quarter were 30% higher than a year earlier, but were still down 30% from pre-pandemic times. Full price sales also improved in the period, meaning the company could ease its recent spell of heavy discounts in store and online.
"Full price sales mix has significantly improved across all our retail channels as we continue to re-establish our premium lifestyle brand positioning," said Chief Executive Officer Rachel Osborne.
However, less promotional activity contributed to a 25% fall in e-commerce sales.
The tote bag maker added that ongoing strong stock control meant it had a "clean inventory position" at the end of the quarter.
Its retail trading margin improved by over 500 basis points in the period on a year ago, and by 190 basis points from two years earlier, which includes pre-pandemic trading.
Ted Baker said that its "transformation plan" was on track, including signing for a new global headquarters in Westminster and developing a new eCommerce platform which, due to technical problems, has been pushed back to go live in early 2022.
"We have made encouraging progress, with trading over the second quarter in line with expectations, albeit the speed of recovery is different across store locations and regions," said CEO Osborne.
Shares in Ted Baker were up 1.2% at 168.73 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
By Josie O'Brien; josieobrien@alliancenews.com
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