British fashion retailer Ted Baker today cautioned against a tough global environment ahead, sending its shares down more than 5% in London trade.
The warning came despite a 12% rise in annual pretax profit on the back of higher online sales.
The UK retailer, which operates 532 stores and concessions worldwide, said it expects capital expenditure of £30m in the new financial year, down from £36.6m the previous year.
"The recent unseasonal weather across Europe and the East Coast of America has had an impact on the early part of trading for Spring/Summer," the company said.
Ted Baker, unlike it peers, has been going slow on new store openings and has re-modelled existing outlets to compliment its online offering in the face of a decline in the overall British clothing market.
Full-year online sales jumped 39.8% to £101.1m, accounting for 22.8% of retail sales.
The company, which trades from outlets, standalone showrooms and concessions, said group pretax profit rose to £68.8m for the year ended January 27, from £61.3m a year earlier.
Retail sales in its UK and Europe business rose 7.7% to £301.1m.
The company also raised its full-year dividend by 12.1% to 60.1 pence.
