Hook joined the ethical health and beauty retailer last month as managing director, with a brief to add 10 UK stores to its 30-strong portfolio this year.
“The investment strategy covers both the UK and overseas,” he said. He declined to name new markets, but said: “We are in active discussions with [players in] other markets.” The retailer has six stores in Japan with a local partner.
Hook said that company-owned stores would be a priority in the UK for the foreseeable future. At present, it has 21 company-owned shops and nine run by franchisees.
For the three months to December 31, Neal’s Yard Remedies delivered “strong” like-for-like sales growth, helped by robust trading at Christmas, said Hook. He also revealed that online sales grew by more than 60 per cent over the same three-month period.
Demand for its ethical, organic and natural products, such as frankincense nourishing cream, is driving growth. “There is a real increased consciousness for ethical, organic and natural health and beauty products and we are seeing a significant increase in footfall numbers,” said Hook.
Organic farmer Peter Kindersley, who co-founded publisher Dorling Kindersley, bought a controlling stake in Neal’s Yard for an undisclosed sum in 2005.
Hook was most recently director of channel management at Orange Group and, before that, he spent 10 years at Carphone Warehouse, where he was UK retail managing director between 2003 and 2005.
Neal’s Yard Remedies opened its first store in London’s Covent Garden in 1981.
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