NEW LOOK

All:

New Look just presented their Q3 results through 22nd of Dec. Clearly much of it had already leaked in the FTI report in January. But overall, the turnaround of the business continues. 
However, “Pro Forma Core Leverage” (excluding the import facility as its interest is in EBITDA) still sits at just under 6x, assuming little incremental EBITDA over the last 5 weeks of the financial year. New Look still have to grow even into this new capital structure. Good thing then (for the equity) that it provides a PIK toggle...

Notes: 
T he company is reporting continued improvements to its supply chain with shortened lead times and increased sourcing “closer to home”. OTB is also higher than last year, materially de-risking the fashion content. 
While Q3 footfall was down in line with other players, conversion increased both in store and online. 
E-commerce is now run for profit, resulting in £20m EBIT by itself.
China, Europe and Franchise accounted for -£23m of EBIT losses.
Thus Core EBITDA stands at around £102m YTD through Dec 22nd.
As of Feb 9th, the company had £109m of liquidity including half of the bridge facility that remained undrawn.

Wolfgang