Mothercare buck high street trend
July 18, 2008
As Britain’s birth rate climbs to the highest levels since the early 1990’s, Mothercare are feeling the boom despite the current financial climate.
Chief executive of Mothercare, Ben Gordon, said that sales were rising in contrast to the downturn in other High Street retailers.
The baby and children’s products retailer announced a group sales rise of nearly 21% in the 15 weeks to July 11. Like for like growth is 1% higher in it stores and internet sales rose 27.5%.
Mr Gordon said “We are pretty pleased, there are all kinds of stories going around and things do seem to be getting tougher but once a baby is on the way, it’s on the way.”
Last week official figures showed the number of births rose to 690,013 last year in the UK, a 3% rise and the highest since 1991.
Mr Gordon said that Mothercare’s prices cater for all budgets to ensure all new parents could shop at Mothercare despite growing pressure on consumer spending. The cheapest pushchair on offer is £40. The My3 is currently their best selling product costing - £400. He added “its going great guns.”
Mothercare opened its first store in China last week. A third of the stores total revenue now comes from international sales. Mr Gordon said that further expansion into China and India would remain the groups focus overseas.
Mothercare bought Early Learning Centre for £85 million last year. The group is planning to introduce the Early Learning Centre’s to its out of town Mothercare stores in the UK.
Analyst at Investec, David Jeary said “In what the company describes as a slow consumer environment, the delivery of positive UK like-for-like growth underlines in our view the more defensive nature of the group’s business. When combined with the strong growth potential from its international operations we believe this represents a potent mix from an investment perspective.”
See www.mothercare.com for more information on the retailer.
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