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London - New Look Retail added to the gloom among Britain’s clothing retailers, reporting a full-year loss and warning of challenging times ahead as online competition increases and shoppers seek instant gratification.
The pretax loss was £16.6m for the year through March 25, the South African-controlled company said in a statement on Tuesday. Sales fell 2.4% to £1.45bn, while the New Look brand’s like-for-like revenue declined 6.6%.
New Look, which operates 872 stores selling fashion mainly for women and teenage girls, joins other UK apparel sellers such as Next and Marks & Spencer in the retail doldrums. The chain, majority owned by South Africa’s Brait SE, said shoppers are growing ever more trend-conscious and harder to please.
“The retail environment is now more competitive than ever,” CEO Anders Kristiansen said. “We have seen a growing shift in customer mindset during the year to a ‘buy now, wear now’ mentality, which challenges us to be even faster in identifying and responding to trends, buying with more conviction and becoming ever more agile.”
In addition to online retailers like Amazon.com, grocers such as Lidl and J Sainsbury are bolstering their apparel offerings to take on the UK’s specialist chains. Lidl, the German discounter, said on Tuesday it’s enlisted fashion model and designer Heidi Klum to develop a new clothing range.
New Look said sales rose 14% from its own websites and 31% from third-party online outlets. While about two-thirds of its stores are in the UK., it increased its presence in China to 110 stores.
The pretax loss compared with one of £34.9m a year earlier, when figures were weighed down by one-time costs of £93.4m related to the Brait takeover and a bond refinancing. Underlying operating profit fell 44% to £97.6m.
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