New Look posts 5 percent decline in H1 revenue

Revenues at New Look in the first half of this fiscal declined 5 percent to 718.1million pounds (892 million dollars), while Group like-for-like sales were down 8.4 percent. Like-for-like sales in the UK declined 8.8 percent and ecommerce sales were down 9.5 percent. The company said, third party ecommerce sales, however increased 21.5 percent.

Commenting on the first half trading, Anders Kristiansen, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Following a tough Q1, trading conditions have remained extremely challenging through Q2. Whilst sales have been affected by external factors such as falling consumer confidence, we have held our gross margin stable in the quarter and seen good revenue growth online and internationally. We remain confident in our long term strategy and continue to make good progress against our strategic initiatives.”

Adjusted EBITDA for the period was down 28.6 percent to 86.9 million pounds (108 million dollars) and underlying operating profit was down 37.4 percent to 59.3 million pounds (73 million dollars). Loss before tax was 0.9 million pounds (1.1 million dollars).

“We will soon reach the milestone of 100 stores in China and we continue to focus on our multichannel approach in our key priority international markets of China, France, Poland and Germany. Furthermore, we remain encouraged by the positive reaction to our standalone menswear offer reaching 15 standalone stores, and we are excited about the potential for our beauty range,” added Kristiansen.

Picture:New Look