Mothercare appoints new CEO as profits slump
Mothercare has announced the appointment of Dan Le Vesconte as its first CEO in two years, as it released its interim results which revealed a drop in profits of £3.2m.
The parenting and young children brand has suffered from its withdrawal from Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine. Mothercare estimates this has cost them around £2.9m in earnings.
However, international retail sales from its partners increased by 15% over last year, excluding sales from Russia.
Mothercare is taking steps to recover lost profits, and said it had successfully completed a refinancing of the business without further equity dilution.
The appointment of Le Vesconte is hoped to reinforce the product, brand, E-commerce and distribution skills within the executive team. Le Vesconte has held senior leadership positions at companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, Dr Martens, and the Wolverine Worldwide group of brands.
Clive Whiley, chairman of Mothercare, said:
“Our results demonstrate the strong foundations and resilience we have created in the business over recent years. Furthermore, we have generated both profit and cash despite the impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Our immediate priority now remains to support our franchise partners as we together navigate out of this suppressed demand period, recover from supply chain disruptions and rebuild their store footfall whilst growing their digital sales. This inevitably means that a return to pre pandemic levels of trading is taking time, however this will ultimately benefit both our own business and our franchise partners’ businesses in the longer term.”