Ted Baker reports "further progress" across global markets and distribution channels

13th Nov 2014 09:05

British clothing retailer Ted Baker reported a 15.7% increase in group revenue for the 13-week period from 10 August 2014 to 8 November 2014 compared with year-on-year results.The group said that retail sales for the period increased by 12.7% and average retail square footage rose by 9.5% from 300,766 square feet to 329,321 sq.ft.Ted Baker is successfully employing their international expansion strategy, with successful store openings in Las Vegas and Toronto, along with further concession openings in premium department stores in the US, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal and South Korea.The firm's e-commerce business also performed well with sales increasing 34.6%, reflecting continuing growth in the UK and the successful migration of our US site to the new platform in July.The company's success in both the UK and US saw growth driven by strong underlying performance, with the US wholesale business trading particularly well as the brand continues to gain traction. Growth in the UK wholesale business was also driven by the continued success of Ted Baker's international licence partners, particularly in the Middle East.It was reported that group wholesale sales expectations for the full year will be around 20% ahead of last year.However, Ted Baker also outlined that gross margins for the second half will be below last year, largely due to a change in the mix of sales as seen in the first half. In more detail, the extent of the firm's overall success will be heavily dependent on trading during the Christmas period.Commenting on trading, Ray Kelvin, founder and chief executive said: "Ted Baker has continued to deliver a strong performance as we have made further progress across our global markets and distribution channels. Ted Baker is a global brand with strong international reach and this has helped mitigate the impact of any localised economic or weather issues."The reaction to our Autumn/Winter collections across our international markets has been very encouraging and we have further store openings planned for the coming months in Miami and Heathrow Terminal 4, and a further outlet store in China."Broker Liberum said it was a "strong" update and made no changes to our forecasts at this stage, with the key Christmas trading period still ahead."The shares are down circa 10% year to date, which we believe presents a good buying opportunity. TED remains our preferred quality growth play."