New Look was founded by Tom Singh in Taunton, Somerset, in 1969.[4] Since then the company has expanded and now operates across a chain of over 900 stores internationally, including Belgium (they opened their first Belgium store in 2006), France, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Malta, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, China, Germany, Russia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Poland, and a staff of over 18,000.[citation needed] The group had a turnover of £1,147 million in 2008 with profits of £180 million.[5]