* CEO, chairman step down
* CFO takes over as interim CEO
* Shares fall more than 30%
* Suspends dividend
(Recasts, adds details on outlook, background, shares)
By Tanishaa Nadkar
Dec 10 (Reuters) - Ted Baker's chief executive and chairman
quit on Tuesday as the British fashion retailer warned its
full-year profit will fall more than expected and suspended its
dividend due to weak Black Friday sales, sending its shares to a
16-year low.
Pressure has mounted on Ted Baker's management team
since it disclosed a week ago that it may have overstated
inventory by as much as 25 million pounds ($32 million).
Lindsay Page is leaving after just eight months in charge of
Ted Baker, which has been struggling with weak consumer demand
and misconduct allegations against its founder and former CEO
Ray Kelvin, which he has denied.
"The last 12 months has undoubtedly been the most
challenging in our history," Ted Baker said in a statement as
its shares fell as much as 30% to 16-year lows.
In contrast to some other British retailers, Ted Baker said
its performance during November and the Black Friday sale period
was below expectations, leading it to cut its pre-tax profit
forecast to a minimum of 5 million pounds.
Ted Baker reported a pretax profit of 50.9 million pounds
last year, its first annual profit drop in ten years.
Ted Baker said its recently appointed Chief Financial
Officer Rachel Osborne will take over as interim CEO, while
Sharon Baylay will become acting chair after the departure of
chairman David Bernstein.
Page, who has been with Ted Baker for more than 20 years,
recently described business conditions as the worst in decades
amid lacklustre sales.
His appointment as CEO in April was seen as a turning point
for Ted Baker, which was trying to move on from the bad
publicity prompted by Kelvin's habit of hugging colleagues.
Ted Baker was also in the process of shaking up its board as
part of a wider push to foster a change in corporate culture.
($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard
Orr and Alexander Smith)
