Ted Baker has signed an agreement with Sojitz Infinity to establish an exclusive retail licence deal in Japan.
The agreement will start in October, after which Ted Baker will have 17 retail licence partners worldwide. The company, founded in 1988 by Ray Kelvin, has 560 shops and concessions around the world, including 201 in the UK. It expects to incur costs of about £4 million from the deal, including restructuring charges and lease expenses.
The deal means it will give up its solo efforts to break into the Japanese market and its directly-operated business will convert into a licence.
This month the fashion retailer ended its children’s clothing tie-up with the embattled department store chain Debenhams and agreed a partnership with its rival Next instead.
Ted Baker signed a five-year-deal that means Next will create and sell the label’s children’s clothing, shoes and accessories.
Mr Kelvin resigned as chief executive earlier this year after an investigation into accusations of inappropriate behaviour. Mr Kelvin, 63, has denied the allegations.
Shares in Ted Baker were up 11p, or 1.2 per cent, at 923p.
