Mothercare completes store closures, targets online growth
Company cuts its debt burden by 84%
Bengaluru — Mothercare saved more money than expected in 2018 from the store closures on which it has pinned its recovery hopes, helping it cut net debt by 84% to £6.9m. This fuelled expectations that the British owner of the Little Bird, Baby K and Blooming Marvellous brands will meet its target of being debt-free in 2019 and drove its shares 20% higher to 24.3p on Friday. The company also reported a loss before tax from continuing operations of £66.6m, compared with £94m a year earlier. “The key message from today’s FY19 results is solid transformational progress and delivery on the market’s financial expectations,” finnCap analysts said in a note. Mothercare, which floated in 1972 and has been a mainstay of British shopping streets, said it had closed a third of its British stores over the past year, realising more than £25m in cost savings. It had originally hoped to save £19m as a result of reductions in rent, store costs, and other overheads. “We have achieved a huge amou...
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