Hail to UK retail: Primark, ASOS and New Look

Primark made it to the news Tuesday with the announcement

of it giving a try to online shopping by selling clothes via Asos.com. Still in London, New Look positively surprised markets with a comeback to profit.

In the corporate news, Angela Spindler became the coveted one among the industry’s C-suit as she has received a “hello pack” worth of near 4 million pounds over the next three years. The new Chief Executive of N Brown will receive the estimated 1.63 million pounds worth of welcome bonus once she joins the group in July. N Brown’s brands include Figleaves, High and Mighty and Viva La Diva.

New Look took the apparel industry by storm on Tuesday as its turnaround strategy is starting to pay off for the British retailer, which has announced EBITDA of 189.2 million pounds in the year to 30th of March, that’s it a 29 percent jump on last year. Pretax losses narrowed from 54.5 million to 3.1 million pounds, while sales were up by 50 percent during the period. Chief Executive Anders Kristiansen said the business was now “well positioned” to expand its business overseas—specifically Russia and China.

Generally speaking, UK retail sales rose 3.4 percent in May compared to the same time last year, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium & KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. Online sales leapt 11 percent. There was positive total growth in every category and overall growth well above the twelve-month average, according to these figures.

In the US, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has said that its May business for Walmart U.S., was off to a good start and US biggest retail location saw positive sales so far in the period after a surprise first-quarter decline. Meanwhile, Guess Inc. (NYSE:GES) also noted stronger sales after its first-quarter North American sales shredded 10 percent. In the meantime, The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) is expected to see a gain of 4.3 percent including an 8 percent jump at Old Navy.