New Look delivers retail jobs boost - graduate jobs

Graduates looking for jobs in the retail sector will welcome the news that New Looks plans to create 1,500 positions after registering a 17.7% increase in profits.

The retailer decided against moving back into the stock market during the period to March 27, when it made an operating profit of £163 million. Like-for-like sales went up by 1.2%, but New Look warned that it faced a tough year of trading.

Staff are to receive a bonus for the second year running, chief executive Carl McPhail confirmed, while he added the group hopes to create jobs in the coming year.

"We've created 1,900 jobs in the last year, we hope to create 1,500 jobs in the coming year," he said. "Staff will receive a bonus for the second year running. It's important we motivate everybody."

Mr McPhail also commented that the company was looking at increasing pay for staff.

New Look shelved plans for a stock market flotation in February, blaming the retreat on turmoil in the financial markets. New Look, which runs 1,018 stores in 13 countries, including 602 in the UK, increased its UK market share from 4.7% to 5.2%.

It opened 61 new stores across the group, including 16 in the UK, in the year to March 27. The company also created 1,900 new jobs, taking the number of people employed by the group to more than 22,000.