Mothercare Regulatory News (MTC)

18 Jan 2007 07:02

Mothercare PLC18 January 2007 18 January 2007 MOTHERCARE PLC THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE Mothercare plc today issued the following update on trading in respect of the 13weeks to 12 January 2007 (third quarter). All figures in this statement arecomparable with the same weeks last year. Group performance Worldwide sales for the 13 weeks to 12 January 2007 were up 5.1%, and for the 41weeks to 12 January were up 5.3%, driven by the improvements we have made inproduct, sourcing, distribution and stores which benefit our entiremulti-channel business in the UK and overseas. UK performance +---------------------------------+------------+--------------+| | 13 Weeks to| 41 Weeks to|| | | || | 12 January| 12 January|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+|Total UK sales* | +0.4%| +1.3%|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+|Total UK like-for-like sales* | +0.8%| +1.9%|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+|UK store sales | -0.7%| +0.6%|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+|UK store like-for-like sales | -0.3%| +1.1%|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+ * Total UK sales and Total UK like-for-like sales include Direct in Home (homeshopping). The multi-channel UK business has delivered a resilient sales performance withthe Direct business performing very well, including Direct in Home sales up 22%.Trading conditions were particularly difficult in November but improved inDecember. As a result markdown levels were higher than planned in quarter three,but have now returned to normal levels. The new National Distribution Centreperformed well over Christmas and we will look to optimise our return on thisinvestment next year. International performance +---------------------------------+------------+--------------+| | 13 Weeks to| 41 Weeks to|| | | || | 12 January| 12 January|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+|Total International sales | +38.0%| +31.0%|+---------------------------------+------------+--------------+ The strong momentum in our International business continues. We have opened 53stores in the current year taking the total to 319. We are on track to openapproximately 70 overseas stores in this financial year. Ben Gordon, Chief Executive said; "Mothercare delivered a resilient third quarter sales performance in whatremained a volatile UK consumer environment. Direct in Home sales were up 22%supported by the successful launch in November of our new state of the artonline platform, built by Amazon Services. This performance demonstrates theimportance of our multi channel strategy in the UK. The International business continues to grow rapidly with sales up 38%, drivenby strong like-for- like sales and 53 new store openings in the year to date,taking the total to 319 including the recent opening of our 18th store in Russiaand our 10th store in India." Mothercare expects to make a pre-close statement on 4 April 2007 ahead of itspreliminary results announcement for the 52 weeks to 31 March 2007. Enquiries to:Mothercare plcBen Gordon, Chief Executive 01923 206001Neil Harrington, Finance Director 01923 206187 Brunswick GroupCatherine Hicks/Anna Jones 020 7404 5959 Note 1 Under IAS 39 (Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement) we arerequired to mark commercial currency hedges to market and as a result wereported an IAS 39 currency loss of £0.9m in the first half. As a result of therecent strengthening of Sterling against the US dollar, which benefits ourbuying operations, we estimate that the IAS 39 currency adjustment has nowincreased to approximately £2.5 million. This is a highly volatile non-cashadjustment which varies daily and does not reflect the underlying profitabilityor cash flows of the business and at the year end we will again present anUnderlying Profit Before Taxation measure which excludes the IAS 39 adjustmentand other exceptional items. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange