New Look may be one of the key womenswear retailers in the UK but that doesn’t appear to have helped its Irish business with the company exiting that market.

The Irish ops — run by New Look Retailers Ireland Ltd — will be wound down after several years of losses and ongoing challenging conditions with the country’s High Court having approved the appointment of Shane McCarthy and Cormac O’Connor of KPMG Ireland as Provisional Liquidators.

The company has 26 stores in the Republic and employs 347 people. They now face a 30-day staff consultation and collective redundancy process.

New Look said the closure of the business wasn’t a decision it took lightly but after several years of losses and ongoing tough conditions, it came to the conclusion that it couldn’t make the business work.

That was despite market-specific initiatives around marketing, stores and pricing.

A New Look spokesperson said: “Over the past few years, we have had to navigate a tough external environment which has only become more unpredictable. We have adapted to this evolving landscape by investing in our product proposition and digital offer. However, due to the increasingly volatile trading conditions we needed to expedite our existing plans, which included conducting a review of our operations in the Republic of Ireland.”

It added that it remains confident in the UK market.

As for the details of the closure process, its stores will shut over the next few days but will reopen on 23 February for clearance sales.

The company has been in Ireland for 22 years, operating through its stores and online. Irish shoppers can also access its products via e-tailers ASOS and Very.

The New Look news comes a day after Quiz’s physical retail ops went into administration with 23 stores closing across the UK and Ireland.

Irish stores in Athlone and Tallaght in Dublin are to close as are Northern Irish stores in Derry and Enniskillen.