MIRA INFORM REPORT

Report Date :

02.12.2014

IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

Name :	NEW LOOK RETAIL GROUP LIMITED
Formerly Known As :	MARKERPOST LIMITED
Registered Office :	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset, Dt3 5hj
Country :	United Kingdom
Financials (as on) :	29.03.2014
Date of Incorporation :	09.05.2006
Com. Reg. No.:	05810406
Legal Form :	Private limited with Share Capital
Line of Business :	Subject is a Holding company for group engaged in retailing of clothing, footwear and accessories under the under the "New Look" brand
No of Employees :	20,073 (As on 29.03.2014)

RATING & COMMENTS

MIRA’s Rating :

Ca

RATING		STATUS	PROPOSED CREDIT LINE
11-25	Ca	Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums in default or expected to be in default upon maturity	Limited with full security

Status :	Moderate
Payment Behaviour :	Slow
Litigation :	Clear

NOTES :

Any query related to this report can be made on e-mail : infodept@mirainform.com while quoting report number, name and date.

United Kingdom ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources, but its oil and natural gas reserves are declining and the UK became a net importer of energy in 2005. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, are key drivers of British GDP growth. Manufacturing, meanwhile, has declined in importance but still accounts for about 10% of economic output. After emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe. In 2008, however, the global financial crisis hit the economy particularly hard, due to the importance of its financial sector. Falling home prices, high consumer debt, and the global economic slowdown compounded Britain's economic problems, pushing the economy into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompting the then BROWN (Labour) government to implement a number of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets; these included nationalizing parts of the banking system, temporarily cutting taxes, suspending public sector borrowing rules, and moving forward public spending on capital projects. Facing burgeoning public deficits and debt levels, in 2010 the CAMERON-led coalition government (between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) initiated a five-year austerity program, which aimed to lower London's budget deficit from about 11% of GDP in 2010 to nearly 1% by 2015. In November 2011, Chancellor of the Exchequer George OSBORNE announced additional austerity measures through 2017 largely due to the euro-zone debt crisis. The CAMERON government raised the value added tax from 17.5% to 20% in 2011. It has pledged to reduce the corporation tax rate to 21% by 2014. The Bank of England (BoE) implemented an asset purchase program of £375 billion (approximately $605 billion) as of December 2013. During times of economic crisis, the BoE coordinates interest rate moves with the European Central Bank, but Britain remains outside the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In 2012, weak consumer spending and subdued business investment weighed on the economy, however, in 2013 GDP grew 1.4%, accelerating unexpectedly in the second half of the year because of greater consumer spending and a recovering housing market. The budget deficit is falling but remains high at nearly 7% and public debt has continued to increase.

Source : CIA

Company identification

NEW LOOK RETAIL GROUP LIMITED		Telephone	+44 013 0576 5000
NEW LOOK HOUSE		Fax	-
MERCERY ROAD		Website	www.newlook.co.uk
WEYMOUTH
DORSET
DT3 5HJ
United Kingdom
Company Number: Foundation:	05810406 09/05/2006	Status: VAT No:	Active - Accounts Filed GB429214460

Payment experience and credit opinion

In view of the heavy losses and weak financial position would advise adequate assurances in dealings of substance.

Comments

No exact match CCJs are recorded against the company. Sales in the latest trading period increased 3% on the previous trading period. The audit report contains no adverse comments.

Net Worth decreased by 3.4% during the latest trading period. An 8.8% decline in Total Assets occurred during the latest trading period. Pre-tax profits decreased by 999.9% compared to the previous trading period. The company saw a decrease in their Cash Balance of 2.2% during the latest trading period.

The company has undergone recent changes in its directorships. The company is part of a group. The company was established over 8 years ago

Basic information

Legal form

Private limited with Share Capital

Foundation

09/05/2006

Company No.

05810406

Previous Names

Date of Change Previous Name

12/03/2010 MARKERPOST LIMITED

Shareholders

Name	Currency		Number of shares		Share type	Nominal value
ALARO TRUSTEES LTD	GBP		232,737,254		ORDINARY B	0.01
APAX WW NOMINEES LTD	GBP		287,183,885		ORDINARY B	0.01
CITADEL HORIZON SARL	GBP		5,118,925		ORDINARY B	0.01
CYRUS OPPORTUNITIES MASTER FUND II LTD	GBP		1,795,377		ORDINARY B	0.01
HSBC BANK PLC	GBP		3,412,628		ORDINARY B	0.01
JUBILEE CDO II BV	GBP		1,934,953		ORDINARY B	0.01
MARATHON SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY MASTER FUND LTD	GBP		5,118,925		ORDINARY B	0.01
OZ MASTER FUND LTD	GBP		2,676,515		ORDINARY B	0.01
PERMIRA EUROPE II NOMINEES LTD	GBP		275,274,158		ORDINARY B	0.01
PRAXIS TRUSTEES LTD	GBP		20,734,866		ORDINARY A	0.01
QUILLIAN INVESTMENTS CORP.	GBP		29,737,833		ORDINARY B	0.01
SV NOMINEES LTD	GBP		10,739,487		ORDINARY B	0.01
UNICREDIT BANK AG	GBP		4,095,128		ORDINARY B	0.01
ALAN PETER OSBORNE	GBP		4,000,000		ORDINARY A	0.01
ROGER BRIAN WIGHTMAN	GBP		2,000,000		ORDINARY A	0.01
TRUSTEES OF ALASTAIR MILLER LIFE INTEREST SETTLEMENT 2008	GBP		9,900,000		ORDINARY A	0.01
TRUSTEES OF MARKERPOST EMPLOYEES SHARE OWNERSHIP PLAN TRUST	GBP		79,812,312		ORDINARY A	0.01
TRUSTEES OF PHILIP OLIVER WRIGLEY LIFE INTEREST SETTLEMENT 20		GBP	2,931,579	ORDINARY A		0.01
TRUSTEES OF TRINITYBROOK EMPLOYEES SHARE OWNERSHIP PLAN TRUST		GBP	35,533,471	ORDINARY A		0.01
TRUSTEES OF WILLIAM JAMES KERNAN LIFE INTEREST SETTLEMENT 2008		GBP	2,000,000	ORDINARY A		0.01
Total Share Capital GBP 10,367,433.07

Management

Directors
Name	Address:	Date of birth	Nationality	Appointment date
Mr Michael Charles Garland	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	09/04/1957	British	13/12/2012
Mr Tom Tar Singh	Eastbrook House 10 Church Street, Upwey, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5QB	29/08/1949	British	19/05/2006
Mr Nathan Lane	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	06/06/1977	American	23/03/2010
Mr Michael James Iddon	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	27/01/1965	British	22/09/2014
Mr Paul Mason	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	14/02/1960	British	16/09/2014
Mr Anders Christian Kristiansen	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	05/02/1967	Danish	16/01/2013
Mr Erik Otto Nyborg	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	23/12/1981	Norwegian	22/07/2014
Mr Claus Torsten De Santos	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	30/06/1971	German	22/07/2014
Dr Martin Charles Halusa	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	12/02/1955	Austrian	18/02/2014

Company Secretary
Name	Address:	Appointment date
Mr Keith Gosling	New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ	01/06/2011

Other Known Addresses

New Look House, Mercery Road, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 5HJ

Company relationships

Company No.		Status	Country
Affiliated companies
04948095	TRINITYBROOK LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
08462233	NEW LOOK FINANCE LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
05014765	HAMPERWOOD LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
06847612	NEW LOOK TREASURY LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
03113468	NEW LOOK GROUP LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
01996366	NEW LOOK LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
01527051	CUSTOMER DIRECT LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
01618428	NEW LOOK RETAILERS LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
04439639	NEW LOOK CARD SERVICES LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
02027827	GEOMETRY PROPERTIES LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
02619122	GEOMETRY PROPERTIES (TONYPANDY) LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
07827059	WEYMOUTH GATEWAY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
02049556	FASHION FOCUS LIMITED	Non Trading	United Kingdom
02074839	NEW LOOK OVERSEAS LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom
08462244	NEW LOOK BONDCO I PLC	Active	United Kingdom
08462259	NEW LOOK FINANCE II PLC	Active	United Kingdom
Subsidiary companies
IE374892	NEW LOOK RETAILERS ( IRELAND ) LIMITED	Other	Ireland
05810408	PEDALGREEN LIMITED	Active	United Kingdom

Business activities

Main activity

Principal Activity A group engaged as a holding company.

SIC03 Holding Companies including Head Offices

SIC07 Activities of head offices

Economic Data

Turnover & Employees
Date of Accounts	Turnover	Employees
24/03/2012	GBP 1,447,500,000	22,605
30/03/2013	GBP 1,484,000,000	21,148
29/03/2014	GBP 1,528,800,000	20,073

Supplementary Data

Auditor

Auditor name

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP

Events

Company history

Date	Action
21/01/2010	Mr P.O. Wrigley has left the board
01/02/2010	New Accounts Filed
01/02/2010	New Accounts Filed
16/03/2010	Change of Name
17/03/2010	New Board Member Mr J. Gildersleeve appointed
17/03/2010	New Board Member Mrs S.J. David appointed
18/03/2010	New Board Member Mr H. Staunton appointed
18/03/2010	New Board Member Ms C. McCall appointed
07/04/2010	New Board Member Mr N. Lane appointed
07/04/2010	New Board Member Mr H. Staunton appointed
07/04/2010	New Board Member Ms C. McCall appointed
07/04/2010	New Board Member Mrs S.J. David appointed
11/06/2010	Annual Returns
13/07/2010	New Board Member Mr J. Gildersleeve appointed
03/08/2010	Mr H. Staunton has left the board
03/08/2010	Ms C. McCall has left the board
03/08/2010	Mrs S.J. David has left the board
08/11/2010	New Board Member Mr J.O. Pinya Salomo appointed
08/12/2010	New Accounts Filed
08/12/2010	New Accounts Filed
24/03/2011	Mr C.D. McPhail has left the board
24/03/2011	Mr J. Gildersleeve has left the board
13/05/2011	New Board Member Mr A.K. McGeorge appointed
21/05/2011	New Board Member Mr A.K. McGeorge appointed
09/06/2011	Annual Returns
10/06/2011	Mr A. Miller has resigned as company secretary
10/06/2011	New Company Secretary Mr K. Gosling appointed
08/08/2011	New Accounts Filed
08/08/2011	New Accounts Filed
21/05/2012	Annual Returns
21/07/2012	New Accounts Filed
21/07/2012	New Accounts Filed
24/12/2012	Mr M.A. Clarke has left the board
24/12/2012	Ms L.M. Buckham has left the board
24/12/2012	New Board Member Mr F.C. Andreottola appointed
24/12/2012	New Board Member Mr M.C. Garland appointed
02/01/2013	New Board Member Mr M.C. Garland appointed
28/01/2013	New Board Member Mr A.C. Kristiansen appointed
28/05/2013	Annual Returns
08/08/2013	New Accounts Filed
08/08/2013	New Accounts Filed
25/12/2013	Mr F.C. Andreottola has left the board
25/12/2013	New Board Member Mr C. Bamberger Bro appointed
27/02/2014	Mr J.O. Pinya Salomo has left the board
27/02/2014	New Board Member Dr M.C. Halusa appointed
17/04/2014	Mr A. Miller has left the board
06/06/2014	Annual Returns
06/06/2014	Mr A.K. McGeorge has left the board
25/07/2014	Mr C. Bamberger Bro has left the board
25/07/2014	New Board Member Mr C.T. De Santos appointed
25/07/2014	New Board Member Mr E.O. Nyborg appointed
22/09/2014	New Board Member Mr P. Mason appointed
25/09/2014	New Board Member Mr M.J. Iddon appointed
27/09/2014	New Accounts Filed
27/09/2014	New Accounts Filed
30/09/2014	New Board Member Mr P. Mason appointed
03/10/2014	New Board Member Mr M.J. Iddon appointed

County Court Judgments (CCJs)

There are no County Court Judgments listed against this company

Accounts

Profit & Loss

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Turnover	1,528,800,000	1,484,000,000	1,447,500,000	1,461,200,000
Export	-	-	-	-
Cost of Sales	722,900,000	698,900,000	710,600,000	673,600,000
Gross Profit	805,900,000	785,100,000	736,900,000	787,600,000
Wages And Salaries	202,400,000	202,200,000	206,000,000	210,100,000
Directors Emoluments	4,400,000	2,100,000	1,100,000	2,500,000
Operating Profit	61,200,000	109,800,000	49,300,000	98,400,000
Depreciation	73,400,000	68,200,000	74,100,000	80,800,000
Audit Fees	200,000	200,000	200,000	200,000
Interests Payments	119,900,000	113,700,000	105,200,000	99,700,000
Pre Tax Profit	-55,000,000	3,100,000	-54,500,000	0
Taxation	1,400,000	300,000	16,500,000	-2,900,000
Profit After Tax	-53,600,000	3,400,000	-38,000,000	-2,900,000
Dividends Payable	0	0	0	0
Retained Profit	-53,600,000	3,400,000	-38,000,000	-2,900,000

Balance Sheet

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Tangible Assets	204,300,000	251,800,000	279,400,000	315,400,000
Intangible Assets	703,000,000	744,700,000	736,200,000	741,400,000
Total Fixed Assets	907,300,000	996,500,000	1,015,600,000	1,056,800,000
Stock	138,100,000	144,100,000	132,700,000	149,500,000
Trade Debtors	16,900,000	14,600,000	17,300,000	11,800,000
Cash	111,100,000	113,600,000	212,300,000	191,400,000
Other Debtors	47,700,000	53,200,000	51,900,000	53,100,000
Miscellaneous Current Assets	300,000	17,600,000	5,400,000	1,600,000
Total Current Assets	314,100,000	343,100,000	419,600,000	407,400,000
Trade Creditors	100,600,000	105,300,000	93,000,000	138,800,000
Bank Loans and Overdraft	0	0	0	25,200,000
Other Short Term Finance	17,200,000	62,900,000	126,200,000	10,600,000
Miscellaneous Current Liabilities	168,200,000	155,500,000	157,700,000	139,800,000
Total Current Liabilities	286,000,000	323,700,000	376,900,000	314,400,000
Bank Loans and Overdrafts LTL	1,326,700,000	1,329,800,000	1,388,100,000	1,463,900,000
Other Long Term Finance	11,800,000	0	0	1,239,100,000
Total Long Term Liabilities	1,326,700,000	1,329,800,000	1,388,100,000	1,438,700,000

Capital & Reserves

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Called Up Share Capital	10,400,000	10,400,000	10,400,000	10,400,000
P and L Account Reserve	-88,900,000	-36,600,000	-39,600,000	-3,800,000
Revaluation Reserve	0	0	0	0
Sundry Reserves	-312,800,000	-287,700,000	-300,600,000	-295,500,000
Shareholders Funds	-391,300,000	-313,900,000	-329,800,000	-288,900,000

Other Financial Items

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Net Worth	-1,094,300,000	-1,058,600,000	-1,066,000,000	-1,030,300,000
Working Capital	28,100,000	19,400,000	42,700,000	93,000,000
Total Assets	1,221,400,000	1,339,600,000	1,435,200,000	1,464,200,000
Total Liabilities	1,612,700,000	1,653,500,000	1,765,000,000	1,753,100,000
Net Assets	-391,300,000	-313,900,000	-329,800,000	-288,900,000

Cash Flow

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Net Cash Flow from Operations	174,400,000	151,600,000	135,200,000	141,700,000
Net Cash Flow before Financing	137,800,000	101,900,000	84,500,000	61,700,000
Net Cash Flow from Financing	-139,000,000	-201,600,000	-59,400,000	-75,100,000
Increase in Cash	-2,500,000	-98,700,000	20,900,000	-14,900,000

Miscellaneous

	29/03/2014 56 GBP Group: Yes	30/03/2013 56 GBP Group: Yes	24/03/2012 56 GBP Group: Yes	26/03/2011 56 GBP Group: Yes
Capital Employed	935,400,000	1,015,900,000	1,058,300,000	1,149,800,000

Financial Ratios

Name	29/03/2014	30/03/2013	24/03/2012	26/03/2011
Pre Tax Profit Margin	-3.60 %	0.21 %	-3.77 %	0.00 %
Current Ration	1.10	1.06	1.11	1.30
Sales or Net Working Capital	54.41	76.49	33.90	15.71
Gearing	-339.05 %	-423.64 %	-420.89 %	-506.72 %
Equity	-75.48 %	-52.77 %	-47.18 %	-39.97 %
Creditor Days	23.95	26.32	23.38	34.57
Debtor Days	4.02	3.65	4.35	2.93
Liquidity or Acid test	0.61	0.61	0.76	0.82
Return on Capital Employed	-5.87 %	0.30 %	-5.14 %	0.0%
Return on Total Assets Employed	-4.50 %	0.23 %	-3.79 %	0.0%
Current Debt Ratio	-0.73 %	-1.03 %	-1.14 %	-1.08 %
Total Debt Ratio	-4.12 %	-5.26 %	-5.35 %	-6.06 %
Stock Turnover Ratio	9.03 %	9.71 %	9.16 %	10.23 %
Return on Net Assets Employed	14.05 %	-0.98 %	16.52 %	0.0%

Remarks

Heavy losses have been suffered in recent years. The general financial position seems weak and balance sheet wise the company is technically insolvent. The principal trading subsidiary is New Look Retail Ltd whose Turnover for 2013/2014 amounted to GBP 1,273,813,000 and Net Trading Profit after Tax was GBP 114,735,000.

Activity: Holding company for group engaged in retailing of clothing, footwear and accessories under the under

the "New Look" brand

Trading Address: 45 Mortimer Street, London, W1W 8HJ – Head Office

Branches: Group operates across UK

Employees: 20,073

Bank: HSBC Bank PLC

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

Currency	Unit	Indian Rupees
US Dollar	1	Rs.62.14
UK Pound	1	Rs.97.05
Euro	1	Rs.77.37

INFORMATION DETAILS

Analysis Done by :	KAR
Report Prepared by :	MNL

RATING EXPLANATIONS

RATING		STATUS	PROPOSED CREDIT LINE
>86	Aaa	Possesses an extremely sound financial base with the strongest capability for timely payment of interest and principal sums	Unlimited
71-85	Aa	Possesses adequate working capital. No caution needed for credit transaction. It has above average (strong) capability for payment of interest and principal sums	Large
56-70	A	Financial & operational base are regarded healthy. General unfavourable factors will not cause fatal effect. Satisfactory capability for payment of interest and principal sums	Fairly Large
41-55	Ba	Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal commitments.	Satisfactory
26-40	B	Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively below average.	Small
11-25	Ca	Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums in default or expected to be in default upon maturity	Limited with full security
<10	C	Absolute credit risk exists. Caution needed to be exercised	Credit not recommended
--	NB	New Business	--

This score serves as a reference to assess SC’s credit risk and to set the amount of credit to be extended. It is calculated from a composite of weighted scores obtained from each of the major sections of this report. The assessed factors and their relative weights (as indicated through %) are as follows:

Financial condition (40%) Ownership background (20%) Payment record (10%)

Credit history (10%) Market trend (10%) Operational size (10%)

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