New Look axes raft of store jobs

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 25, 2017

British retailer New Look has cut nearly 400 jobs in an effort to streamline the management structure at its stores amid struggling sales numbers.

The company, which reported in August a 4.4% fall in first quarter revenue to £338.7m, scrapped around 390 store management jobs, including deputy store managers and sales managers.

430 workers were retained, while around 100 people resigned. An additional 20 volunteered for a deferred redundancy.

This was part of a redundancy consultation carried out with 1,000 staff over the summer. New Look has 593 stores in the UK and employs nearly 19,000 people.

A spokesperson said: “Following a review launched last year, we completed a consultation process over the summer with affected staff so we could assess the level of management roles in our UK and Republic of Ireland stores.

“We carried this out to simplify and improve the management structure across our UK and Republic of Ireland store estate so that we are better placed to meet the needs of our customers.”

The company shocked the industry in September when it announced that Paula Dumont López, who had been announced as new creative officer in June, would no longer join the business as a result of new buying, merchandising and design priorities.

Additionally, its CEO Anders Kristiansen quit his job after five years in the company in September. Danny Barrasso remains as Interim CEO until a successor is appointed.

In financial year 2017, New Look struggled to stay afloat with adjusted EBITDA down 31.8% to £155m due to a weak sales performance and increased investment in strategic initiatives.