French division of New Look pushes it into a loss

The company is owned by Permira and Apax, the private equity groups, and it has reported a loss of £55m as it has had to written down assets on its Mim chain in France.  The group said Mim had seen an improvement during the last two months, but it was still giving thought to selling the chain.

The retailer reported an increase in sales of 2.2% to the year ending March.  Its online sales are continuing to increase, and is up by 64% for the past year compared to 46% during the previous year, The Guardian says.

The group has refitted its UK stores, revamped its website and developed apps for tablets and mobile phones.  Its efforts to generate a buzz in social media circles has seen 2.9m Facebook likes, with 2.7m visitors to its website weekly.

The retailer is looking to open more UK stores and plans to open an additional 10 stores in China which will see a doubling of the current number of stores.