Mothercare continues to flourish abroad as UK struggles

Weak trading at UK Mothercare stores weighed on its overall performance while international operations continued to go from strength to strength.

The UK baby-wear and toddler goods firm said total group sales fell 4.4 per cent for the 15 weeks ended 14 July 2012. UK sales declined 10.2 per cent in the quarter while International retail sales climbed 11 per cent.

UK Direct in Home sales were down 7.1% and UK like-for-like sales dropped 6.7%.

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"The UK store restructure programme, which is targeting the largest loss-making stores first, is progressing well with a reduction of 16 stores in the quarter. We moved our Mothercare website to a new platform in May and, whilst this resulted in significant disruption during the transfer process, recent performance has been very encouraging with positive sales growth in the last five weeks," it said.

Chairman Alan Parker said: "First quarter results were in line with our overall plans despite challenging trading conditions in the UK and the Eurozone. We have made good progress implementing the three-year Transformation and Growth plan with benefits to accrue during the second half of the year, as expected."

"International growth continues to offset weaker trading in the UK," he said.

Asia Pacific and the Middle East & Africa performed well during the quarter, continuing strong levels of growth. In contrast, Europe endured a slight decline in sales.

Mothercare opened 25 stores outside the UK, taking the total overseas store numbers to 1,053 and it opened its 100th store in Saudi Arabia.

The group said it is confident on delivering its International growth targets, underpinned by forward orders and store opening plans from its franchise partners.

CJ