New Look H1 like-for-like sales increase 6.9 percent

REPORT_ For the 26 weeks ended September 27, 2014, New Look reported like-for-like sales rise of over 6.9 percent. New Look UK including E-commerce sales increased over 8.3 percent. Despite of the resilient second quarter, the company witnessed rise in revenue and profit for the first half.

Commenting on the financial development, Anders Kristiansen, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are very pleased with these results which show progress across all parts of the business. We have made good progress both internationally and in terms of developing our E-commerce proposition. We have increased our presence in China, both in store and online, expanded our Polish business, launched French and German versions of our website and continued to make improvements to our online user experience.”

With store refurbishment in progress, the company had 305 stores across the Group in concept format. On the international front, 14 stores are trading in China and six more stores are in the pipeline in the country by year end. Online presence in China has been established through Alibaba owned T-mall site. The company exited Russia and Ukraine markets owing to political uncertainty, however its roll-out in Poland and Germany are on schedule.

New Look also strengthened its management team with appointment of Paul Mason as Non-Executive Chairman and Mike Iddon as Chief Financial Officer. On the back of uncertain market conditions and the unseasonably warm weather in September continued through October, the company remains cautious about the outlook for the remainder of the year.