The owners of New Look, the high street fashion chain, are injecting £30m of fresh equity into the business to accelerate its digital transformation. Sky News has learned that Alcentra and Brait, the shareholders of the clothing retailer, have provided the funding to capture a larger share of Britain’s £4.3bn womenswear market. Insiders indicated that the funding will be announced in a statement on Thursday.
New Look operates around 340 stores and employs approximately 10,000 people across the UK. It is the second-largest womenswear retailer in the 18-to-44 year-old age group in the country and has been under the ownership of its current shareholders since October 2020. The new capital from Alcentra and Brait will be dedicated to enhancing customers’ online experience by investing significantly in New Look’s technology and systems.
In the previous year, the chain recorded sales of £769m, with an improvement in gross margins and a statutory loss before tax of £21.7m, a decrease from £88m in the prior year. Like many high street retailers, New Look faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent a formal financial restructuring through a company voluntary arrangement. In the autumn of 2023, the company finalized a £100m refinancing deal with Blazehill Capital and Wells Fargo.
Helen Connolly, the Chief Executive of New Look, stated in response to an inquiry from Sky News, «Our objective is to become the top online destination for feel-good fashion, supported by our loyal customer base and established digital model. This injection of new capital will enable us to enhance our digital operations, improve customer service, drive growth, and achieve our target of £1bn in online demand by 2030. It will bring us closer to our expanding customer base, offering them more of the trend-led, high-quality fashion they desire, along with a seamless shopping experience.»
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