Mothercare

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Mothercare
Type Public (LSE: MTC)
Industry Retail
Founded 1961
Headquarters Cherry Tree Road, Watford, Hertfordshire
Key people Alan Parker (Chairman)
Simon Calver (CEO)
Revenue £766.4 million (2010)[1]
Operating income £52.0 million (2010)[1]
Profit £23.6 million (2010)[1]
Employees 5,852 (2012)
Subsidiaries Early Learning Centre
Website www.mothercare.com

Mothercare plc (LSE: MTC) is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index.

History

The Company was founded by Selim Zilkha and Sir James Goldsmith in 1961.[2] It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1972.[2]

In 1982 it merged with Habitat[2] to form Habitat Mothercare plc and in 1986 Habitat Mothercare plc merged with British Home Stores to form Storehouse plc.[2] It bought Children's World from Boots in 1996,[3] and rebranded all of their superstores Mothercare World stores. In 2000 the Bhs stores were sold to Philip Green[3] and Storehouse reverted to the Mothercare brand.[3]

Mothercare agreed to buy the Early Learning Centre (ELC) in April 2007 for £85 million. [4]

In 2007 Mothercare launched Gurgle, a pregnancy and parenting social networking website.[5] In November 2009 Mothercare acquired the 50% of Gurgle that it did not already own.[6]

In July 2010, Mothercare bought the trademark and brand of privately owned rival Blooming Marvellous.[7]

In 2011 it was reported that Mothercare was set to undergo a major restructure in their retail sector resulting in an undisclosed number ELC stores moving into neighbouring Mothercare stores to lower costs.

Operations

The Company operates online, on the high street and out of town, and in November 2009 had over 1,060 stores worldwide of which 389 were in the UK and 671 were abroad in 38 other countries.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Annual Report 2010". Mothercare. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mothercare Chief Executive ousted after fourth profits warning in under a year
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 UK Business Park:Storehouse
  4. ↑ "Mothercare to buy Early Learning Centre", Reuters, April 30, 2007
  5. ↑ Mothercare pre-tax profits increase tenfold, back from the brink Baby Chums, May 22, 2009.
  6. ↑ Mothercare buys remaining 50% of Gurgle.com Retail Week, 18 September 2009
  7. ↑ Mothercare buys up rival Blooming Marvellous Daily Mail, 15 July 2010
  8. ↑ "Overseas sales boost Mothercare", BBC News, November 16, 2006

External links

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