New Look reports ‘disappointing’ first quarter
Fashion retailer New Look has posted a 7.5% decline in UK like-for like sales as it reported a “disappointing” first quarter.
In the 13 weeks to 24 June, New Look brand like-for-like sales fell by 8.2% as revenue declined by 4.4% to £338.7 million.
Online sales on New Look’s own website edged down 0.6% while third party ecommerce sales rose by 15.7%,
Meanwhile, underlying operating profit fell by 60.3% to £12.1 million and the company made a pre-tax loss of £15.2 million in the period compared to a profit of £5.8 million in the same quarter in the previous year.
Anders Kristiansen, chief executive of New Look, said: “As expected, the UK market has remained difficult, which has resulted in a disappointing quarter of trading. We have managed the business accordingly by controlling costs, tactical investment in our strategic initiatives and enhancing our product proposition.
“We remain committed to our long-term strategy of diversifying the business and reducing our dependence on the UK high street, and are confident that we will see improvements, but expect these to take time.”
New Look is continuing to expand in China where it has opened another 17 stores to take the total number to 127. It is also trialling a new store concept in the UK.
The company said its new chief creative officer, Paula Dumont Lopez, will be starting in September.
Kristiansen added: “Looking ahead, we expect the consumer economy to remain fragile and challenging market conditions to persist into 2018. We will continue to manage our business prudently and focus on providing our customers with exceptional product and real value for money.”
