* Fiscal 2021 loss smaller than feared
* Demand returning for dresses, suits
* Q1 sales down 20% due to lockdowns
* Discounts, promotions returning to normal levels
(Adds CEO comments from call)
By Muvija M and Chris Peters
June 14 (Reuters) - Upmarket retailer Ted Baker said
on Monday dresses and suits were back in demand, with Britons
rediscovering a taste for formal wear as months of COVID-19
curbs on social life were slowly relaxed.
A lockdown-driven shift to casual wear hammered the fashion
retailer's earnings last year, but its new boss said the
performance of Ted Baker stores since their reopening in April
was "very pleasing".
"Most recently we are seeing dresses back to the same level
(in the) mix of our business as it was two years ago," Rachel
Osborne told Reuters. "(We) are seeing people coming in for
suits, the wedding season is hopefully starting."
Ted Baker shares were up 1.2% at 0754 GMT after the group
reported a 59.2 million pound ($83.53 million) pretax loss for
the 12 months to Jan. 30, narrower than the 76 million pound
loss forecast by analysts, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Osborne, who took over last year, has been working on
winning back customers and investor trust after a string of
setbacks that followed the departure of previous chief executive
and founder Ray Kelvin following misconduct allegations.
Kelvin has denied any wrongdoing.
The company, which cut nearly 1,000 jobs and raised money
through a stock issue to get through the crisis, is undergoing a
three-year turnaround plan focused on saving 31 million pounds a
year.
It also plans to strengthen its online presence, with 11
million pounds earmarked for its e-commerce site's revamp.
"Ted Baker needs to find a way to sustainably improve its
online business, or it won't bode well for trading patterns in
the post-pandemic, digital-centric world," Hargreaves analyst
Sophie Lund-Yates said.
While overall sales slumped by 44% to 352 million pounds in
fiscal 2021, online sales leapt 22%, though growth slowed to
4.5% in the first quarter of the current year with fewer
discounts and other promotions.
Osborne said the company had also introduced more casual
wear, such as joggers and sleepwear, for lockdown times. "All
those really took off as a percentage mix of our business that
we hadn't seen pre-COVID."
($1 = 0.7088 pounds)
(Reporting by Chris Peters and Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing
by Tomasz Janowski and Jan Harvey)
