Nursery and maternity retail group Mothercare has seen its UK sales fall by almost 9% over the past year, reporting a pre-tax loss of £87.3m in the 53 weeks to the end of March (compared with £72.8m the previous year).
Mothercare has attributed this slump to a loss of confidence among both consumers and suppliers as more than 40% of UK Mothercare stores were closed, taking the store portfolio from 134 to 79.
“While this major restructuring activity has resulted in significant headline losses for the year, the business is now on a sounder financial footing,” said chief executive Mark Newton-Jones.
He went on to say that the ‘primary focus’ in the UK would be developing online sales, which fell 8% to £140m in its last year, as well as offering customers more credit options and exclusive products.
“The next phase of our strategic transformation plan is to develop Mothercare as a global brand, maximising the opportunities we see across many international markets.”
The company’s financal difficulties were eased earlier this year when it sold the ELC to the Entertainer for £11.5m and its Watford head office for £14.5m. This helped Mothercare reduce its net debt from £44m to £6.9m.
“We have achieved a huge amount this year, refinancing, restructuring and reorganising Mothercare to ensure a sustainable future for the business,” Mark continued. “The majority of that work is now done, including the completion of our store closure programme, leaving us with 79 stores which are well positioned to support our UK customer base.”
