ANALYST VIEWS IS THERE HOPE FOR MOTHERCARE REVIVING ITS UK BUSINESS?
JOHN STEVENSON PEEL HUNT
Mothercare left no surprises, with full year profit expectations unchanged. On strategy, Mothercare announces incremental cost savings and store closures. Mothercare UK is not loss making solely due to its store base; we believe the problems centre on product and price, which are not mentioned today.
ANDREW WADE NUMIS
The update gave a first look at the outcome of the structural and operational review. With a new financing agreement also announced, we were particularly impressed by the quantum of non-store overhead savings that have been identified and are increasingly encouraged by the outlook.
DAVID JEARY INVESTEC
The bare bones of the three year “transformation and growth” strategy have been announced centring around taking significant costs out of the UK and rightsizing the store base. You have not got significant detail on the core pillars at this stage…the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.