Mothercare posts record sales and profits
- Published: 22 May 2008 09:35
- Author: Marino Donati
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- Last Updated: 22 May 2008 17:00
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Sales and profits at Mothercare have risen to record levels for the year to March 29.
Group sales for the business were up 35.8% to £676.8 million, boosted by the addition of the Early Learning Centre business, while underlying profit before tax rose 70.8% to 338.6m.
Like-for-like sales in the UK were up 2.9% with gross margin up 70 basis points.
Group profit before tax was down 76.2% to £4.5m following the one of cost of £35.6m to integrate the Early Learning Centre business, and the resulting property portfolio restructure.
Chief executive Ben Gordon said: "This has been a transformational year for the Mothercare group. The acquisition of the Early Learning Centre this year was a major step in achieving our ambitions to establish Mothercare as the world's leading specialist parenting group. In the multi-channel UK business we grew like-for-like sales and margins and tightly controlled costs, leading to a significant increase in underlying profitability."
The company is rolling out a new out of town store fit, and continue with international expansion.
Mothercare has 500 international stores in 48 countries.
