Nigel Oddy joins New Look as COO, French ops in judicial reorganisation filing

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 22, 2019

The saga of New Look’s retreat from its international markets is continuing with the beleaguered UK fashion company saying on Friday that its French operations have filed for Judicial Reorganisation. 

But the parent company also had some more upbeat news saying that Nigel Oddy has been appointed as COO, effective April 1. He was formerly CEO of The Range and earlier spent over 10 years at House of Fraser, as COO from 2010 to 2014 and CEO from 2015 to 2017. 

Executive chairman Alistair McGeorge said “his operational expertise and significant retail experience will be a great asset to the team as New Look continues to deliver on its turnaround strategy and reposition itself for future growth.”

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Back with the story of the French operations, the company gave no other details of exactly what will happen now, although it’s known that New Look France isn’t in the local equivalent of administration and its efforts to find new investors are continuing.

New Look France, which was “designated as an unrestricted subsidiary under the Indentures on 18 December 2018,” has struggled along with the rest of the business for some time in the face of “challenging” trading. Earlier this month, it emerged that it was seeking buyers for its 30 stores but so far, no potential buyers appear to have emerged wanting to buy the business in its current form.

In early March, the company said it was working with the local works council, the body that represents the roughly 450 employees of the company in the country.

It added that the group has been conducting a review of its international strategy as part of its wider financial restructuring “to ensure the company is well positioned to drive strong business performance and profitable growth in the future.”

A week ago, the company’s Polish arm filed for bankruptcy and earlier the firm also exited China. It continues to work through its recovery plan in the UK and is closing a raft of stores there.