Mothercare announces three-year turnaround plan
13 Apr 2012
Mothercare has announced plans for a comprehensive restructuring of its operations involving significant job losses, as part of a three-year turnaround plan for the struggling retailer.
The mothers' and children's goods group said it expected to close 75 Early Learning Centre outlets as also 36 Mothercare stores by March 2015.
It has been facing keen competition from retailers both in stores and on the internet. The company has drawn up plans to focus on 200 stores in the UK that it believes have the potential to succeed in the long term.
According to executive chairman Alan Parker, it would see the company operate a lean, more competitive business, focused on the existing profitable stores in a smaller UK portfolio, combined with a state of the art online platform.
These would include 173 Mothercare and 27 Early Learning Centre outlets and the mix would include 95 out of town stores and 105 "key" high street stores.
According to Parker, the store closures would mean up to 750 redundancies, though he hoped the job losses would be mitigated through redeployment.
