VS Series
River Island v New Look
Two high street names that went through restructuring: which came out stronger?
River Island leads on pre-tax profit, profit margin and net assets; New Look on turnover and growth. New Look is the biggest by turnover at £688m, against £478m at River Island. River Island keeps more of every £100 it takes, £4.29 as pre-tax profit.
The year ends are up to 9 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months.
Accounts compared: River Island to Dec 2025 · New Look to Mar 2025
Who they are
River Island
River Island Clothing Co. Limited · 00636095River Island is a high street fashion retailer selling womenswear, menswear, kidswear, shoes and accessories through its shops and its website.In brief: high street fashion retailer · own-label clothing in store and online · business dates from 1948 · family ownedFull profile →New Look
New Look Retailers Limited · 01618428New Look is a fashion retailer selling everyday womenswear, including denim, dresses, knitwear and shoes, through about 300 UK shops, its website and its app.In brief: womenswear retailer · about 300 UK shops plus online · first shop in Taunton in 1969 · own-label fashionFull profile →The Numbers
The leader on each measure is marked. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
Biggest by turnover
New Look
£688m
Most pre-tax profit
River Island
£21m
Highest profit margin
River Island
4.3%
Fastest-growing turnover
New Look
-6.5%
Biggest employer
New Look
7,697 staff
Highest pay per head
River Island
£52,000
Most turnover per head
River Island
£236,000
Largest net assets
River Island
£79m
Most cash
New Look
£44m
How they differ
How do River Island and New Look make their money differently?
Both sell their own-label fashion through UK shops and their own websites, and both have been through court-backed or creditor-approved restructurings. River Island's accounts show a business that cut its way back to a profit: a Restructuring Plan sanctioned by the High Court in August 2025 closed or re-rented loss-making shops and halved its lease commitments, and gross profit rose from £21.4m to £52.5m on lower sales. New Look's show a business whose website now earns almost all its trading profit: e-commerce made £42.9m of adjusted EBITDA against £3.9m from UK shops, while closing its Irish business cost it £40.6m. The two years differ: River Island's to December 2025, New Look's to March 2025.
This panel reads: River Island, River Island Clothing Co. Limited, 52 weeks to December 2025; New Look, New Look Retailers Limited, 52 weeks to March 2025. The numbers above use each company's latest figures on Spark Intel, which can be a different year.
How they make it
35%of turnover from online sales
Retail £252m, online £166m, wholesale, franchise and marketplace partners £56m. Online sales fell 8.2%; like-for-like shop sales rose 0.7%.
“Online sales declined by 8.2% year-on-year due to market challenges and reduced marketing investment”
30%of revenue from its own website
UK shops £488m, its own website £209m and other retailers' websites £27m, before £36m of concession sales are netted off.
“The online market continues to outperform offline, and we are well-positioned to capture this growth”
Where the shops stand
£125mof sales to group companies running shops
£125m of its retail sales were to other River Island companies, which sold the goods in their shops. Its own shop visits fell as shops moved to River Island Fashion Limited.
“The decline in store footfall is driven by the transfer of stores to River Island Fashion Limited.”
337UK shops, down from 356
Opened 1 shop and closed 20; selling space fell to 2.7 million sq ft. UK shops still took most of its sales.
“we continue to review our store footprint to reflect changing shopping behaviours and ensure long-term viability”
How they restructured
£47mof lease commitments, down from £91m
A High Court-sanctioned Restructuring Plan in August 2025, after a covenant breach blocked its £40m credit line. Shops were closed or re-rented.
“The Plan reduced the scale of the retail estate and addressed loss-making locations through a combination of store closures and rent adjustments.”
£40.6mexceptional loss on closing the Irish business
A Company Voluntary Arrangement in 2020. In February 2025 it put its Irish subsidiary into liquidation, its biggest one-off cost of the year.
“On 15 September 2020, 81.6% of the Company's unsecured creditors (by value) voted in favour of the proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement”
Where the profit comes from
£24.0mtrading profit before one-off items
Gross profit more than doubled to £52.5m as the cost of goods fell £18.2m and logistics £8.7m. Operating profit includes a £10.7m release of a provision on money owed by a group company.
“Cost of goods sold was reduced by £18.2m and logistics costs by £8.7m”
£42.9madjusted EBITDA from e-commerce
Its website made most of the adjusted EBITDA; UK shops made £3.9m, down from £32.1m.
“in comparison to stores, e-commerce benefits from lower administrative expenses and therefore contributes a higher profit margin”
Who funds them
£286mterm loan at its parent company
Family-owned. After the plan the group took a new £35m credit line, £40m from January 2026, and the maturity of its parent's loan moved to December 2028.
“As a privately owned family business, shareholder engagement remains central to governance.”
16.5%interest on the shareholders' new loan
Shareholders lent £30m to a parent company in March 2025, passed down to it. A parent company wrote off £50.2m it was owed; lease interest alone was £12.5m.
“The terms of the additional senior new money term loan are the same in terms of PIK interest at 16.5% capitalised semi-annually”
Not disclosed
A shop count, how many shops the Restructuring Plan closed in total, and profit split between shops and online.
Like-for-like sales, profit per shop and the trading results of the Irish business it closed.
Pages quoted: River Island pp. 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 20, 27, 28, 38; New Look pp. 1, 2, 4, 5, 48, 49, 53, 54, 64.
The two sets of accounts cover different years: River Island's to 27 December 2025, New Look's to 29 March 2025, the latest each had filed. River Island's are the accounts of River Island Clothing Co. Limited only; shops have been transferred to another group company, River Island Fashion Limited (River Island p. 5), and £125.1m of its retail sales were to group companies that sold the goods in their shops (p. 27). New Look's adjusted EBITDA is its own measure, before exceptional items, and the segment figures are on its IFRS 16 basis. New Look's revenue nets off concession sales; its channel figures are before that adjustment. Percentages are our arithmetic from the pages cited.
Sources: River Island Clothing Co. Limited, Annual Report and Financial Statements 2025; New Look Retailers Limited, Annual report and financial statements 2025. Page numbers are the documents' own.
The Takeaway
- River Island converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £4.29 reaches pre-tax profit, against a loss of £11.23 at New Look.
- New Look is the largest on the top line, £688m of turnover, 1.4x River Island's £478m.
- Turnover fell at both companies. New Look fell least, -6.5% on its own prior year.
- New Look is the biggest employer with 7,697 people; River Island pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £52,000.
- River Island has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £79m, while New Look holds the most cash at £44m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
River Island keeps the most: £4.29 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. New Look does worst, losing £11.23.
Financing bites hardest at New Look: £4.51 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is New Look (£688m), River Island (£478m).
By headcount, New Look leads with 7,697 employees.
The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: River Island to Dec 2025, New Look to Mar 2025. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Whose turnover fell least?
Turnover fell at both companies. New Look fell least, -6.5% on its own prior year, against River Island (-10.9%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
New Look employs the most, 7,697 people, against 2,022 at River Island.
River Island has the highest average staff cost, about £52,000 a head; New Look the lowest, about £19,000.
River Island brings in the most turnover per employee, about £236,000, against £89,000 at New Look. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by River Island Holdings Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 4 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns River Island →
New Look Retailers Limited · 01618428Held by New Look Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 7 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns New Look →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | River Island | New Look |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | RIVER ISLAND CLOTHING CO. LIMITED | NEW LOOK RETAILERS LIMITED |
| Company number | 00636095 | 01618428 |
| Incorporated | 1959 | 1982 |
| Accounts filed | 19 June 2026 | 29 December 2025 |
| Turnover, prior year | £537m | £735m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | -£64m | -£4m |
| Staff costs | £104m | £145m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 21.8% | 21.1% |
| Employees, prior year | 2,277 | 8,020 |
| Dividends paid | n/d | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 4 | 7 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
River Island v New Look: common questions
How do River Island and New Look make their money differently?
River Island and New Look both sell their own-label fashion through UK shops and their own websites, and both have restructured. River Island Clothing Co. went through a Restructuring Plan sanctioned by the High Court in August 2025, after a covenant breach cut off its revolving credit facility; the plan closed or re-rented loss-making shops, its lease commitments fell from £91m to £47m, and its gross profit rose from £21m to £53m in the year to December 2025 as the cost of goods and logistics fell. Online was about 35% of its turnover, and £125m of its retail sales were to other River Island companies that run shops. New Look, which had a Company Voluntary Arrangement in 2020, ended March 2025 with 337 UK shops after closing 20, and liquidated its Irish business at a cost of £41m. Its website made £42.9m of adjusted EBITDA against £3.9m from its shops. Its shareholders added £30m through a loan carrying 16.5% interest, and a parent company wrote off £50m it was owed. The two sets of accounts cover different years: River Island's to December 2025, New Look's to March 2025.
Who is the biggest of River Island or New Look?
New Look, with turnover of £688m in the year to March 2025.
Which makes the most profit?
River Island: £21m pre-tax in the year to December 2025.
Which employs the most people?
New Look, with 7,697 employees in its latest accounts.
River Island or New Look: which is bigger?
New Look, with turnover of £688m against £478m at River Island on their latest filings. On margin, River Island keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.
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