Ted Baker cuts 953 jobs

Ted Baker cut 953 jobs in the first half of the year as the pandemic took its toll on the business.

In a statement accompanying the British luxury label’s latest trading results, published Monday, CEO Rachel Osborne called the decision “extremely hard but necessary”.

“I would like to take a moment to reflect on the impact of our plan, as well as Covid, on the team at Ted Baker. At the peak of lockdown measures in the Spring, we had over 2,600 team members on furlough at every level across head offices, warehouses and stores.” Osborne said.

“I know being on furlough will have led to anxiety and created lots of challenges for many. For those working from home, colleagues were required to juggle a combination of family schedules, sometimes unusual working hours and a lack of human interaction.

“We have worked hard to improve 'at home' working environments, but we understand that it has been a very difficult period for some colleagues. Finally, we have had to make 953 of our colleagues redundant across head offices and stores.

“This was an extremely hard but necessary decision and wherever possible we have tried to protect customer-facing roles. I want to thank all my colleagues during this difficult period for their hard work and efforts that have helped to maintain such a strong brand.”

Revenue fell 45.9 percent to 169.5 million pounds for the 28 weeks ended August 8, 2020, while underlying loss before tax widened to 39 million pounds compared to a loss of 2.7 million pounds a year earlier.

Photo credit: Ted Baker