"The first year is about building momentum," said Mothercare's (MTC) chief executive Simon Calver when alluding to the group's three-year plan to turn around the struggling mother-and-baby retailer.
Indeed, the year saw an exit from Australia and New Zealand, after the 74 stores there were placed into administration, and the closure of 56 loss-making UK stores. The UK website was relaunched, the service was improved, prices were cut and new products introduced. A free click-and-collect offering helped total web sales grow 4 per cent to £93.8m, a global e-commerce platform was rolled out to help franchises develop online, and 115 overseas stores were opened overseas.
However, that effort incurred a £35.7m exceptional cost, which explains the headline loss. Strip that out, however, and underlying profit improved to £8.3m from last year's £1.6m - helped by a 20 per cent rise in international underlying profit to £42m. International like-for-like sales actually rose 5.6 per cent, although same-store UK sales fell 3.6 per cent - better than last year's 6.2 per cent slump, but still leading to a £21.7m underlying UK loss.
Broker Numis Securities expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £21m for 2014, giving adjusted EPS of 18.6p (7.5p in 2013).
| MOTHERCARE (MTC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 354p | MARKET VALUE: | £314m | |
| TOUCH: | 354-356p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 370p | LOW: 160p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 44p* | NET DEBT: | 84% | |
| Year to 30 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 724 | 42.0 | 36.2 | 14.5 |
| 2010 | 766 | 32.5 | 28.0 | 16.8 |
| 2011 | 794 | 8.80 | 7.60 | 18.3 |
| 2012 | 813 | -103 | -105 | 2.00** |
| 2013 | 794 | -21.5 | -24.9 | nil |
| % change | -2 | - | - | -100 |
*Includes intangible assets of £46.5p, or 52p a share **Half-year dividend only | ||||
