Mothercare PLC on Tuesday said interim turnover fell sharply, reflecting a 25% slump in franchise partner sales after troubled trading in the Middle East.
The Watford, England-based retailer which specialises in products for newborn babies and children, said its pretax loss narrowed to £1.4 million in the 26 weeks to September 27 from £1.8 million the year prior.
Turnover dropped markedly to £11.6 million from £21.0 million, as franchise partner sales declined, but the bottom line benefited from reduced administrative expenses which fell to £5.6 million from £7.3 million.
Worldwide retail sales by franchise partners fell 25% to £90.7 million from £121.2 million, largely resulting from the store closures in Middle Eastern markets and the planned exit from Boots.
On a like-for-like basis, retail sales were down 6% on last year.
In Middle Eastern markets, a net 50 stores were closed in the twelve months to September 27, as a result of the region wide reduction in footfall and resultant sales.
‘However we do not expect any further significant store closures, as now that the majority of the old inventory has been cleared the profitability of our franchise partner is improving, despite the challenges currently facing retailers in the region,’ Mothercare added.
Basic losses per share were unchanged at 0.3 pence per share.
‘Mothercare is making good progress against our strategic priorities. After the strategic and operational challenges of the last few years, our performance in the first half shows that Mothercare has been stabilised as a smaller and cash generative business with greatly reduced debt,’ commented Chair Clive Whiley.
‘From this position of relative strength our key focus for 2026 is to pursue options to rebuild our scale and operations both in the UK and globally, alongside pursuing the refinancing of our existing debt financing facilities,’ he added.
Net debt was £5.8 million at September 27, down from £17.1 million the year before.
Mothercare said it ‘continues to benefit from the ongoing support of its lender’ and has sufficient cash to trade for the ‘foreseeable future’.
In addition, Mothercare said it is exploring options to mitigate the pension scheme deficit.
No dividend was declared, unchanged from a year ago, but Mothercare said it intends to return to paying a dividend when it is ‘financially prudent’ to do so.
Shares in Mothercare fell 8.7% to 2.24 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.