Mothercare suffers during Christmas, UK like-for-like sales drop 7.2 percent

For the 12 weeks to December 30, 2017, Mothercare plc said UK like-for-like sales declined 7.2 percent impacted by lower footfall and spend, both in stores and online, while online sales declined 6.9 percent, which now represent 42 percent of total UK sales. The company attributed lower total UK sales than last year to ongoing store closure programme. Retail space at the end of the period reduced to 1.4m sq.ft., with 143 stores including 139 Mothercare and four ELC stores.

Commenting on the trading, Mark Newton-Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Mothercare plc, said in a media release: “As we signalled in November, there has been a softening in the UK market with lower footfall and website traffic resulting in lower spend in both stores and online. International trade was challenging in the quarter overall, but we have seen a return to moderate growth in the Middle East over the last seven weeks. Going forward, we are not anticipating any improvement in the short-term market conditions for the UK and on this basis the adjusted group profit for the year is likely to be in the range of 1-5million pounds.”

International retail sales during the period were down 3 percent in constant currency and down 6.8 percent in actual currency, but key markets, Mothercare said, showed signs of improvement towards the end of the period. Online sales, however grew 8.5 percent in constant currency and 7.4 percent in actual currency. Internationally, the company operated 1,131 stores at the end of the period.

Picture credit:Mothercare website