LONDON (Alliance News) - Mothercare PLC shares dropped on Thursday as the retailer's sales continued to fall in the first half despite an ongoing restructuring programme.
Shares in the baby products retailer were trading down 7.9% at 16.18 pence each. They are down by 70% in the year-to-date, as the firm was hit by the struggles of the UK high street and forced to enter company voluntary arrangements earlier this year.
For the 28 weeks to October 6, Mothercare's total revenue shrank by 13% to GBP295.0 million from GBP339.5 million a year ago, as sales dropped both in the UK and in the retailer's international division.
Total worldwide sales, including franchise partners sales, fell 9.8%. Like-for-like sales in the UK fell 11% while international slipped 3.4%.
However, Mothercare's pretax loss narrowed to GBP14.4 million from GBP16.8 million a year ago.
This was achieved on the back of a restructuring programme announced earlier in the year which saw store closures and rental payment reductions.
Administrative expenses were cut to GBP22.8 million from GBP35.3 million year-on-year.
Continuing its restructuring, Mothercare expects to reduce its store portfolio to "less than 80" stores by April 2019, "three months ahead of target", generating a minimum of GBP19 million in costs savings it explained.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Newton-Jones said: "Over this period, we have continued our relentless focus to transform Mothercare into a business that has a sustainable and relevant future for its global customer base.
"We have completed the capital restructuring of the business, the UK store closure programme is well underway and due for completion earlier than planned, we are making our sourcing operations more efficient and our cost-saving initiatives are well on schedule."
Looking ahead, the struggling retailer said it expects its financial performance for the rest of the year to "remain volatile" due to a "very challenging" UK retail environment plagued by uncertainty in consumer confidence.
Mothercare (MTC)