New Look sales down 1.7% in third quarter
High street fashion retailer New Look saw its like-for-like sales fall by 1.7% in its third quarter as trade was impacted by the unseasonably warm weather in October and November.
In the 13 weeks to 27 December, like-for-like sales in the UK edged down 1%.
The retailer’s underlying operating profit rose by 1.8% to £62.8 million in the period while pre-tax profit increased by 28% to £35.2 million.
New Look saw record online sales over the Christmas trading period with demand peaking around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day. UK like-for-like sales increased by 4.1% in the seven weeks to 3 January 2015 while online sales surged by 32.4%.
Anders Kristiansen, New Look chief executive, said: “Mobile and tablet ordering overtook desktop for the first time on Boxing Day, whilst our high street presence came into its own as we handled a surge in demand for our Click & Collect and Order in Store offerings.
“Operationally, we performed well. We were able to extend final delivery dates before Christmas and we dispatched 60% more orders across the 3 weeks over Christmas than last year. Despite the heavily promotional environment, we maintained the level of full price sales on last year and grew gross profit margin.”
New Look is continuing to expand overseas and now trades from 18 stores in China as it aims to have 20 stores in the country by the year end. It is also planning further openings in France, Germany and Poland.
