Mothercare Regulatory News (MTC)

15 Jan 2009 07:00



MOTHERCARE PLC

THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE

Strong performance in the third quarter

Mothercare plc, the leading global retailer of parenting and children's products, today issued an update on trading for the 13 weeks ended 9 January 2009 ("third quarter").

Group performance : third quarter

Total group sales up 4.2%

UK like-for-like(1) sales up 1.1%; total UK sales down 1.8% (due to planned reduction in space)

Direct in Home sales up 15.6%

International retail sales(1) up 49.1%

Group performance : year-to-date

Total group sales up 7.2% (up 2.3% on a proforma(2) basis)

UK like-for-like sales up 0.9%; total UK sales up 2.8% (down 1.9% on a proforma basis due to planned reduction in space)

Direct in Home sales up 31.6% (up 21.4% on a proforma basis)

International retail sales up 45.7% (up 41.1% on a proforma basis)

Ben Gordon, Chief Executive said:

"The Mothercare group has performed well in the third quarter reflecting the strength and resilience of the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands around the world.

"International is having a record year. We opened the group's 1,000th store worldwide in Dubai in December. We now have 1,011 stores worldwide including 603 Mothercare and Early Learning Centre stores outside the UK in 50 countries.

"In the UK our multi-channel business has again grown like-for-like sales in a difficult market, boosted by strong performances from Direct and the Early Learning Centre inserts now in Mothercare stores. The winter sale is progressing well and we enter the new season with a clean stock position. Our balance sheet and cash flow remain strong and the group is debt free and cash positive. We continue to manage the business tightly and we currently anticipate that profits(3) for the full financial year will be in line with expectations."

Enquiries to:

Mothercare plc

Brunswick Group

Note 1 - "Like-for-like" sales are defined as sales growth for stores that have been trading continuously from the same selling space for at least a year and include Direct. Sales from Early Learning Centre inserts in Mothercare stores are included where they are trading in existing Mothercare space. Like-for-like sales are presented on a proforma basis (note 2). International retail sales are the estimated retail sales of our overseas franchise partners and joint ventures.

Note 2 - On 19 June 2007, Mothercare acquired the Early Learning Centre. For ease of analysis, certain results are also presented on a "proforma" basis which assumes that the Early Learning Centre had been owned for all of this year and last year.

Note 3 - Profit is defined as group underlying profit before taxation which excludes exceptional and other non-underlying items.