Mothercare reports 1.2 percent rise in UK like-for-like sales

Like-for like sales at Mothercare for the 15 week period to July 9, 2016 increased 1.2 percent with the end-of-season sale brought forward by one week to clear stock following adverse weather in the quarter. Constant currency international sales were up 3.9 percent with almost half of the growth coming from the Middle East due to the earlier timing of Ramadan.

“Our focus remains firmly on the turnaround of our business and putting strong foundations down for the future and we have made further progress during this quarter,” said Mark Newton-Jones, CEO of Mothercare, adding, “We have not seen any immediate consumer reaction to the Brexit vote, but it is too early to call as we went into the end-of-season sale early. We hedge both dollar purchases and royalty receipts and we expect limited impact on our financial results this year.”

Review of the UK and international performance

UK online sales were up 6.4 percent with online now 35.5 percent of total UK sales. Mobile now represents 84 percent of online traffic and 61percent of online sales. Total UK sales were down 2.1 percent, reflecting the 4.8 percent year-on-year reduction in space. The company operated 170 stores including 162 Mothercare and eight ELC at the end of the quarter.

In the foreign markets, actual currency sales were up 5.1 percent with the Middle East and Asia reporting fx gains during the quarter. Space was up 2.3 percent year-on-year with 1,322 international stores including 958 Mothercare and 364 ELC at the end of the first quarter.

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