New Look swings to full-year loss

FASHION chain New Look has suffered a full-year loss amid plunging sales on the high street and online.

The retailer reported an operating loss of £74.3m for the year to March 24, having made £97.6m profit in the previous year.

New Look’s sales in the UK fell by 11.7% on a like-for-like basis, accelerating from a decline of 6.8% the year before. Website sales slumped by 19.2%.

Total revenue was £1.34bn, down from £1.45bn year on year.

In a bid to lure back customers, executive chairman Alistair McGeorge is lowering prices.

“Quite frankly, we have disappointed some of our best customers,” he said. “We had lost our prices. We had put our prices up, all we have done now is to put it back to where it should be.”

The business was hit with a £34.2m one-off cost, which included an exceptional charge from stock clearances.

New Look launched a restructuring plan in March, announcing it would shut 60 stores as part of a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), affecting 980 jobs. The company said on Tuesday the CVA would save £40m.

Mr McGeorge said: “At the end of the day, for a business to survive it has to have a good brand and be run properly. A CVA alone is not going to save a business.”