(Alliance News) - Upmarket clothing retailer Ted Baker PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in revenue, but said that trading has been "resilient" and and ahead of its base-case estimates.
Shares in the company were up 11% at 78.17 pence each in London.
For the 11 weeks to July 18, total retail revenue fell 55% year-on-year to GBP60.9 million, with online revenue up 35% to GBP35.2 million and retail store revenue down 79% to GBP15.8 million.
The company attributed the sharp drop in store revenue to closures globally, but noted the decline was not as bad as the 83% predicted in the company's base-case revenue scenario after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Like-for-like store sales were down 52% in the 11 weeks versus last year.
Ted Baker said 95% of its store estate is now open with 75% of stores operational for the past four weeks. Like-for-like store sales were down 50% year-on-year for the last four weeks of the trading period to July 18.
Online sales during the 11-week period represented 69% of total retail sales, versus 25% a year ago, and their 35% rise was significantly ahead of the 19% decline in the base-case revenue scenario.
The company said, in common with other public companies, it has decided to withhold guidance for the financial year ending January 30, 2021, due to the "unprecedented uncertainty around the severity and duration of the impact of Covid-19".
As of Saturday, the company had GBP161.7 million of available headroom on current bank facilities of GBP108 million, with an additional GBP25 million becoming available from September. Net cash as of July 11 was GBP56.7 million, ahead of management expectations due to strong cash management.
Chief Executive Officer Rachel Osborne said: "Our performance is encouraging, but I caution that it is still early days, and we have a substantial amount of work to do over the next 12 months against a backdrop of significant uncertainty in the world. However, the brand has an exciting future, and I am looking forward with cautious optimism that the initiatives currently underway across all areas of the business will bear fruit over the next 12 months."
By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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