Struggling New Look's founder Tom Singh back in driving seat

The founder of New Look surprised the high street yesterday by returning temporarily to the helm of the struggling high street fashion chain in a boardroom shake-up.

Tom Singh, who owns 22.4 per cent of New Look, becomes interim executive chairman following the abrupt resignations of chief executive Carl McPhail and non-executive chairman John Gildersleeve.

The boardroom upheaval comes as the group battles tough trading conditions, having recently ruled out reviving its plans for a stock market flotation later this year.

It is thought McPhail, chief executive since 2008, was promoted to the top role largely to oversee such an initial public offering.

New Look said yesterday that Gildersleeve had recently indicated his intention to retire to focus on other business interests. It said Singh, who launched the company in 1969, will head the business while it searches for a new management team.

The founder has remained on the board in recent years, but has not been involved in day-to-day management. New Look provided no update on recent trading, having reported a 9 per cent slump in UK sales over Christmas and the January clearance season.

New Look, whose HQ is in Weymouth in Dorset, was hit by the pre-Christmas snow, but had also cited pressures from soaring cotton prices, higher wage demands from workers in Asia, and increased freight costs.

It also recently emerged that its private equity owners slashed the value of their stake in the retail chain after the sales fall.

SVG Capital - an investor in New Look through buyout group Permira, which owns a 27.7 per cent stake in the retailer - revealed it wrote down the value of its holding to 13.5m at the end of 2010 from 25.7m a year earlier.

New Look came close to listing last year, but blamed financial market turmoil for the pulling of the float. It had hoped to raise 650m through the IPO, which would have valued the firm at 1.7 billion.