It has emerged that Mothercare had compelling reasons to pursue its CVA and to close further stores. Its UK sales had fallen by 4.8 per cent to £437.6 million for the year to 24th March contributing to an overall pre-tax loss of £72.8 million after taking into account restructuring and store closure costs.
International sales on a like for like basis had fallen by 5.9 per cent. Online sales accounted for 43 per cent of all sales in the UK which shows that its attempts to migrate more of its business online had begun to pay off. The second half of the year had, however, been impacted by much lower store traffic and the need to discount to generate sales.
In its heyday Mothercare was the primary destination for Britain’s expectant mothers and new parents but it has some way to go to claw back its market share which has been steadily eroded by the supermarkets, pureplay online competitors and those selling via marketplaces.
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