Nursery and maternity retailer Mothercare has released its half-year trading results, with a total loss of £6.2 million being reported across the group and UK like-for-like sales down by 11.1% on last year’s figures.
This slump in sales was split between UK retail stores, which reported a 13.8% drop in sales, and online sales, which were down by 7.8%.
Globally, Mothercare’s total group revenues have dropped by 13.1%, standing at £295 million for the six month period to 6 October 2018.
In the statement, which was released today (Thursday 22 November), Mothercare attributed its difficulties to ‘wider market uncertainty’ and issues resulting from its ongoing restructure, such as ‘negative brand coverage’ and stock availability. It also revealed that it plans to sell its Watford-based UK headquarters in a bid to further reduce its debt, which currently stands at £21.5 million.
“Over this period, we have continued our relentless focus to transform Mothercare into a business that has a sustainable and relevant future for its global customer base,” said ceo Mark Newton-Jones.
He continued: “Our international business is showing signs of recovery after a difficult few years and some core markets, including Russia, China and Indonesia, have moved into growth. The UK retail environment, however, remains very challenging and given the ongoing uncertainty with consumer confidence, alongside the short-term impacts of our operational changes and restructuring programme, we expect performance in the remainder of our financial year to remain volatile.”
Plans were approved for a CVA earlier this year, which will leave the retailer with 77 stores when the process is completed in June 2019.
Mothercare’s UK share prices have already fallen since this morning’s announcement.
