New Look to open Men's wear stand-alone stores as Profits increase

New Look is keener than ever to leave it's mark on the men's wear market following strong trading results during its acquisition and has therefore confirmed plans to open five stand alone men's wear stores.

The high street fashion retailer, which is currently undergoing a turnaround plan under the leadership of chief executive officer Anders Kristiansen, has been making a push into the men's wear market over the past few months which included the launch of a new store-in-store concept. New Look has been trialling new men's wear collections as well as introducing separate store entrances for women's and men's wear sections in its Oxford Circus flagship store and other key retail points.

'Menswear is a key strategic priority for New Look'

"Menswear is a key strategic priority for New Look, and the opening of menswear standalone stores represents a natural next step for us," commented Roger Wightman, Chief Creative Officer. "We are very proud of the improvements made to our offer over the past two years - the opening of menswear standalone stores will allow us to more fully showcase the enhanced quality of our product ranges." The first men's only-stores are thought to open in Manchester, Portsmouth and Wigan and will be overseen by New Look's new men's wear director, Christopher Englinde, who is set to join the team in September from his current position at H&M.

The announcement comes as New Look reported a 9 percent increase in profit before tax to 19.3 million pounds for its first quarter to June 27, 2015, a period during which the fashion retailer completed the sale of its equity to Brait in addition to successfully completing a major debt refinancing. Revenue for the 13 weeks grew 4.3 percent to 369.8 million pounds and underlying operating profits increased 6.8 percent to 47.3 million pounds. UK like-for-like sales grew 4.1 percent during the quarter and New Look brand like-for-like sales were also up 4.1 percent which led the fashion retailer to increase its full year EBITDA by 2 percent to 61.1 million pounds.

In addition to the debut men's wear only stores, New Look aims to continue its expansion in China which currently counts 39 stores with the opening of 40 further stores by the end of the year. "These strong results demonstrate New Look’s ongoing progress during a quarter in which we have changed ownership and refinanced the business," said Anders Kristiansen, Chief Executive Officer. "Further UK sales growth is particularly encouraging, whilst our latest successful store openings in China ensure our expansion plans continue on track."

"Whilst the consumer environment remains unpredictable, we continue to manage the business accordingly."