* CEO, chairman step down
* CFO appointed interim CEO
* Third profit warning this year
* Shares fall more than 35%
* Market capitalisation falls to 152 million pounds
* Suspends dividend
(Adds analyst comments, details on review, outlook, background)
By Tanishaa Nadkar
Dec 10 (Reuters) - Ted Baker's troubles deepened on Tuesday
with the sudden exit of the British fashion retailer's chief
executive and chairman as it issued another profit warning and
suspended its dividend, sending its shares tumbling to a 16-year
low.
The problems cap a tumultuous year for Ted Baker after
misconduct allegations against Ray Kelvin, its founding former
CEO and top shareholder, which he has denied.
Like other British retailers, Ted Baker has been hit
by weak consumer demand and last week pressure mounted on its
management team when it said it may have overstated inventory by
as much as 25 million pounds ($32 million).
"Ted Baker is truly having the nightmare before Christmas,"
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said as the share price
fell by as much as 35%, taking its losses for the year to 78%.
Ted Baker said Lindsay Page, who had been with the company
for more than two decades but only became CEO eight months ago,
was leaving along with its chairman David Bernstein.
Page's promotion in April had been seen as a turning point
for Ted Baker, which has been trying to move on from the bad
publicity prompted by Kelvin's habit of hugging colleagues with
a company-wide push to foster a change in corporate culture.
'COMING APART AT THE SEAMS'
The latest profit warning and the suspension of its dividend
raised immediate questions about how Ted Baker, which said it
had appointed independent consultants to review its costs and
business model, would now get back on track.
"This is a train wreck of an update, and it feels like the
company is coming apart at the seams," CMC Markets analyst David
Madden said after Ted Baker cut its pre-tax profit forecast to a
minimum of 5 million pounds for 2019.
This compared with a 50.9 million pound profit last year.
Kelvin still has a 34.9% stake in Ted Baker, Refinitiv Eikon
data shows, and there has been media speculation that he would
support a private equity buyout of the business, whose first
store opened in 1988 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The company, which started life as a specialist in men's
shirts, said its performance during November and the Black
Friday sale period, in contrast to some other retailers, was
below expectations and discounting had hit gross margins.
In order to fill the gaps left by Page and Bernstein,
recently appointed Chief Financial Officer Rachel Osborne will
take over as interim CEO, while Sharon Baylay will become acting
chair, Ted Baker said.
($1 = 0.7794 pounds)
(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard
Orr and Alexander Smith)
