The specialist maternity retailer revealed the figure as it disclosed that it had avoided the general retail downturn, generating a like-for-like sales rise of 4.5 per cent in the year to March 29.
Gurgle.com was soft-launched in October and is now being promoted in Mothercare stores. A month of in-store advertising brought 10,000 subscribers to the interactive site and the retailer is considering taking third-party ads on the site.
Mothercare chief executive Ben Gordon said that the retailer’s multichannel presence has been vital to its growth. “We are now seeing 15 per cent-plus of sales through our multichannel operation,” he said.
Group sales rose 31.6 per cent in Mothercare’s fourth quarter to March 29 and 35.1 per cent for the full year.
Gordon also said that the integration of Early Learning Centre (ELC) stores was ahead of schedule. 30 ELC outlets have been integrated into Mothercare shops so far and 75 more are expected to be finished by October.
Mothercare will give details of its UK property review when it reports its full-year results in May. It has about 2 million sq ft of space shared between its Mothercare and ELC estates.
Kaupthing analyst Matthew McEachran expected there to be a significant reduction in retail space. “I think that there will be a big net reduction – bare minimum, 10 per cent,” he said. “This will reduce their costs, as they do not need all this space for the sales they are doing.”
Following the update, Shore Capital retail analyst John Stevenson upped his pre-tax profit forecast for the second time this year to£34.8 million. He said he was “surprised by the resilience of trading performance through the second half”.
International growth also remained strong, up 14.6 per cent like-for-like for the year. Mothercare opened 77 franchises during the period, bringing its total franchised portfolio to 494 in 48 countries.
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