Mulberry poaches Ted Baker finance director

Ted Baker's finance boss, Charles Anderson, is leaving the fashion retailer after 17 years to join luxury handbag maker Mulberry.

Anderson will become group finance director at Mulberry with effect from early October, replacing Neil Ritchie, whose departure was announced back in March. Anderson was head of finance at Ted Baker until 2014, when he became FD of the group's subsidiaries.

Mulberry said he played "an active role" in the international expansion and systems transformation at Ted baker and oversaw its investor relations programme. Prior to his time there, Anderson held various positions at House of Fraser, NatWest Markets and Carpetright.

Chief executive officer Thierry Andretta said: "We are delighted to welcome Charles to the Mulberry team. His experience of developing and overseeing a global finance function during a period of international expansion will be relevant as we grow Mulberry worldwide."

Broker Peel Hunt said: "Clearly, the outlook for Ted remains challenging and the loss of key personnel at this time is not helpful, but perhaps indicative of the continued challenges the business will face into 2020."

Independent retail analyst Nick Bubb said: "After yesterday’s news that Inchcape and Hammerson have both announced new CFOs, we thought that this morning’s news about a new CFO at Mulberry would be somebody else we have never heard of, but in fact it is none other than Charles Anderson, the finance director and company secretary at the embattled Ted Baker.

"Charles was the No 2 in finance under Lindsay Page and then took over when Lindsay became COO and then CEO. Oddly enough, there has been no announcement yet from Ted Baker about the news…"

At 1100 BST, Mulberry shares were up 0.9% at 295p and Ted Baker shares were down 2.2% at 938.73p.