Here’s why…
New Look has reported a fall in profits and warned of a continued ‘fragile and challenging’ retail environment into 2018.
The fashion retailer reported a 60 per cent fall in quarter one profits as like for like sales also dropped.
The company said underlying operating profit fell to £12.1m for the 13 weeks to 24 June, down from £30.5m in the same period last year.
It is the latest sign that the UK high street is facing a tough outlook. Figures released today by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed UK retail sales grew just 0.0 per cent in July down from the 1.1% growth seen in the same month last year.
Anders Kristiansen, New Look Chief Executive said: “As expected, the UK market has remained difficult, which has resulted in a disappointing quarter of trading.
“Looking ahead, we expect the consumer economy to remain fragile and challenging market conditions to persist into 2018. We will continue to manage our business prudently and focus on providing our customers with exceptional product and real value for money.”
Mr Kristiansen blamed the hit suffered from weaker consumer confidence after the Brexit vote, and the drop in the value of the pound as well as the company’s product ‘not where it should be’ as reasons for the drop.
“It has been tough out there for most companies and that’s what we have seen ever since Brexit, but on the other hand we don’t think we have delivered as good a product as we could have,” he said.
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