Alistair McGeorge today gave a frank view of where New Look has gone wrong, and what he needs to do to turn it around.

What makes retail so interesting is just how quickly it changes. One minute you’re the pin-up of the sector, the next your business is on its knees.

Never was there a better example than New Look. Just a couple of years ago, under the sure hand of Phil Wrigley, it seemed it could do nothing wrong. Whether it be new countries, new categories or new store formats, backed with private equity cash everything it did turned to gold.

Over the past year things unravelled spectacularly. An IPO failed, with the company coming unstuck over its failure to address the City’s concerns over capital structure and the performance of its international business. It was caught up in a scandal over factory conditions. And moving its buying teams from Weymouth to London caused massive upheaval. All in all, the company took its eye off the ball, sales fell off a cliff, and tough guy chairman John Gildersleeve and chief executive Carl McPhail were heading out the door.

In as executive chairman came the well-regarded Alistair McGeorge, battle hardened after a spell running Matalan for John Hargreaves, and today, as New Look published some pretty poor results, he faced the press to talk about his plans. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve never before met McGeorge and he has always kept a very low profile, but he was impressively straightforward and seemed to have a very clear idea of what the problems were.

His diagnosis is that the failed IPO and the move from Weymouth distracted the organisation from getting its offer right, and what happened was that it skewed its ranges both to the younger end of its demographic, and to the upper end of its price architecture - fatal in the ultra competitive fast fashion market. Sorting the core UK womenswear offer by putting these wrongs right is his number one priority, and all the other ventures New Look got into - like international growth and menswear - will be on the back burner until that mission is solved.

McGeorge is going to be tough - remarkably for a private equity business, he said New Look is weak on cost control, and he also plans to have some direct conversations with landlords - but he also knows that getting the people piece right will determine whether he succeeds.

New Look has suffered an extraordinary revolving door of senior management over recent months, with key figures like product chief Barbara Horspool quitting then being persuaded to stay, while it was announced that Julian Kilmartin from Primark was joining only to have the offer withdrawn. It’s no wonder the buyers have felt unsettled and haven’t been on top form. In fast fashion product and price are everything, and if he can calm things down and bring some stability back to the buying floor, McGeorge will be halfway to getting New Look back on the right track.