// Ted Baker’s swing to a loss leaves £215m dent on founder Ray Kelvin’s fortune
// Ted Baker posted £23m pre-tax loss in its half-year report, published earlier this week
// Shares in Ted Baker also dived by more than a third on Thursday
Ted Baker’s plunge into the red this week led to £215 million being wiped off founder Ray Kelvin’s fortunes and a plunge in shares, according to reports.
In a trading update published earlier this week, the fashion retailer recorded a £23 million loss before tax in the first half of its financial year, on the back of 2.9 per cent drop in in-store sales and a 1.3 per cent decline in online sales.
It attributed this to “very difficult trading conditions”, as well as an £11.8 million investment to overhaul its struggling Asian businesses, and the troubles of Debenhams and House of Fraser in the UK and Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s in the US – department stores where Ted Baker had a significant presence with concessions.
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It had also been embroiled in sexual harassment allegations against Kelvin, Ted Baker’s founder and former chief executive who was forced to resign in March. Kelvin has denied all allegations.
The trading update saw shares in Ted Baker plunge by a 35.6 per cent on Thursday, coming in at 595p.
This is a stark contrast to the start of the year, when shares in the retailer were worth 2100p.
As a result, Kelvin – who still owns around 35pc of the business – has made a loss on paper of around £215 million since he resigned, The Telegraph reported.
In addition, as a result of Ted Baker cutting interim dividend in its half-year report, Kelvin’s personal pay-out plummeted from £2.7 million from £1.2 million.
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