New Look heralds strong year
Value fashion retailer seeing growth slacken in tougher market
April 3 2003
UK clothing retailer New Look is expecting continued growth despite the downturn in consumer spending.
The comany has seen its sales growth gradually slow across the year, further evdidence of lower UK consumer confidence in recent months.
Reporting a total increase in UK retail sales of 8.4 per cent in the year to March 29, chief executive Stephen Sunnucks said: “This concludes another excellent year and our full year results will be in line with expectations.
“We are pleased with the recent trading performance which has been achieved against strong comparatives. Our self-help initiatives have continued to deliver and our overall strategy to achieve sustainable long term growth remains on track, despite the uncertain market conditions.”
Over the year, total UK sales grew by 11.2 per cent with like-for-like sales up 7.7 per cent.
However, growth slackened in the second half, with total UK sales up 9.7 per cent in the six months to March 29 and up 6.1 per cent like-for-like.
Trading over the past 10 weeks saw a further decline, with total UK sales increasing by 5.9 per cent, and like-for-like sales up by 1.5 per cent. New Look said this was against “very strong comparatives” with last year – in the same period a year ago, total UK sales were up by 15.1 per cent, and 8.3 per cent like-for-like.
New Look said a cost reduction programme is progressing well, with cost growth for the year not expected to exceed 6 per cent. The company is ahead of schedule on a plan to reduce its cost-to-sales ratio from 43 per cent to 40 per cent by 2004/05.
