Ted Baker in talks to offload London HQ

Embattled retailer Ted Baker is reportedly in talks to sell its ‘Ugly Brown Building’ headquarters in London to British Airways’ pension scheme.

According to Sky News, in a bid to help its balance sheet after an accounting blunder revealed it had overstated its inventory by £58m, Ted Baker is “close” to a deal with BA that could be worth up to tens of million of pounds.

BA pension scheme is thought to be interested in the property, which is owned outright by Ted Baker, as it already owns a neighbouring building in the North London area.

However according to a source cited by Sky News, the deal has not yet been concluded and could fall apart.

The news comes after a tough time for the fashion retailer, in January it revealed that an accounting overstatement – thought to originally amount to between £20m-£25 – was actually almost three times higher at £58m.

It said it was “materially higher” than the £20-25m preliminary assessment and that the overstatement was a non-cash item and related to prior years.

Ted Baker declined to comment.