Financial highlights
- Underlying profit before tax up 37% at £13.0m [FY2013/14: £9.5m]
- International like-for-like sales up 5.6%, constant currency total sales up 12.4%, total International reported sales up 2.2% and underlying International profit up 1% at £45.9m [FY2013/14: £45.3m]
- UK like-for-like sales up 2.0% with gross margin stabilised, total UK sales down (0.9)% as further underperforming stores were closed and underlying UK losses lower at £(18.0)m [FY2013/14: £(21.5)m]
- Worldwide sales1 up 1.0% at £1,203m, International now accounts for 64% of worldwide space and 62% of worldwide sales
- Statutory reported loss before tax of £(13.1)m [FY2013/14: £(26.3)m]
- Successfully refinanced the business, ending the year with net cash of £31.5m compared to net debt £(46.5)m in FY2013/14
Strategic and operating highlights
Progress made against all six strategic pillars:
- Become a digitally led business
- Online sales up 18%, accounting for 30% of total UK sales with over a third of online orders collected in store and 82% of online traffic now generated from mobile
- A significant increase in product images, videos and customer reviews online and an accelerated growth in our customer database
- Supported by a modern retail estate
- Closed a further 31 loss-making stores and resited one in the UK
- Gateshead and Solihull refurbished to the new format, clothing biased stores trialled and our first year of refits now identified
- Offering style, quality and innovation in product and great service
- Introduced more phased launches of product in Clothing & footwear, Home & travel and Toys
- Introduced more brands and increased exclusivity across all of our product categories
- Stabilise and recapture gross margin
- Margins stabilised after five years of decline
- Moving back to being a full price retailer with shorter discount periods and better planned promotions
- Running a lean organisation while investing for the future
- Costs well managed and stock cover reduced in the UK
- Invested in management and colleagues as well as our systems to support the strategic pillars
- Expanding further internationally
- Space up 9.0% with 1,273 stores in 60 countries as 52 stores opened
- Entered a new territory - South Korea with an initial four stores
Alan Parker, Chairman of Mothercare plc, said:
"This year has been one of major change for Mothercare. We recruited a new CEO and CFO, entered into new financing arrangements with our banks, saw off an unwelcome takeover approach and successfully completed a rights issue. I am confident that we now have the right leadership and plans to achieve our clear potential of being a world leading global retailer."
