New Look losses narrow while revenue drops

Total revenue decreased by £75.5m or 8.9% year on year to £769.2m during the 53-week period. Retail sales dropped 11.5% to £555.1m, which the business said was driven by the ongoing cost-of-living pressures and store closures in the year.

Following unseasonable weather patterns in spring/summer, the retailer purchased a higher proportion of "broad appeal stock with longevity", which helped maintain its margins, it added.

Ecommerce sales were flat at £217.5m while revenue from third-party platforms was down 7.6% year on year to £44.7m.

The retailer opened five stores in the UK and closed 35, ending the year with 385 stores across UK and Ireland. This compares with 414 stores in the previous year and was mainly driven by its CVA (company voluntary arrangement), which was launched in 2020 and completed in September 2023.

Operating profit increased by £75.1m to a £22m profit during the year, from a £53.1m loss.

In a statement, the company said it is "cautiously optimistic" about FY25: "Whilst we expect inflationary pressures to ease and an improvement to economic conditions, we are subject to high regulatory increases such as national living wage and national minimum wage which make up a large proportion of our cost base.

"We recognise that we need to continuously understand the pressure on our customers disposable income and continue to invest, protecting key entry price points in order to cautiously drive volume growth within our omnichannel model.

"We will be investing in a number of trials across the next year such as store renovations, loyalty, data and AI tools in order to ascertain which investments return the most value and support our omnichannel model."