Ted Baker buys No ordinary Shoes, takes shoe license in-house from Pentland

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 10, 2018

Pentland Group may be expanding its footwear ops in deals with brands such as Karen Millen and Lacoste, but it’s losing its Ted Baker license as that company buys its UK and US footwear ops and takes them in-house.

Ted Baker said Monday that it has acquired the UK and US operations of No Ordinary Shoes for up to £21 million. It has entered into an agreement with Pentland, the company's footwear licensee since 2001, to acquire the firms’ issued share capital for around £13 million, plus an adjustment for net assets of the companies as at completion date, set to be between £4m and £8m, payable in cash on completion.

Pentland currently holds the exclusive global licence from Ted Baker to manufacture and distribute footwear under the retailer’s brand and that will end after the completion of this acquisition.

The aggregated sales of the UK and US ops of No Ordinary Shoes were just under £40 million last year and Ted Baker said it will finance the purchase using its existing bank facilities, with the acquisition expected to add to its earnings in FY2019/20 and beyond.

Ted Baker founder and CEO Ray Kelvin said: “I would like to thank Pentland for their hard work and Tedication over the last 17 years, during which they have been close friends of Ted Baker and trusted custodians of the brand. This is an exciting opportunity to drive further growth in our footwear business by leveraging our global footprint and infrastructure, in line with our strategy to further develop Ted Baker as a global lifestyle brand.”

Richard Newcombe, Global President of the Footwear Division at Pentland, added: “Since becoming the Ted Baker footwear licensee in 2001, we've grown the footwear category by more than 800% and increased distribution from 60 retailer partners in eight markets, to over 200 in 28 markets. We take pride in the role our team has played in the brand's continued success, and we wish everyone at Ted Baker all the very best for the future.”