Mothercare Says Cautiously Confident; Sales Impacted By Covid-19

Mothercare Plc (MTC.L), a British retailer specialized in products for expectant mothers, said in a pre-close trading update that it expects its earnings for the fiscal 2022 are ahead of the current market expectations.

The company however said its global net sales for the full year have been impacted by Covid-19 pandemic.

For the fiscal 2022, the Watford-headquartered firm expects its adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 11.5 million pounds to 12 million pounds.

The unaudited net worldwide sales of 385 million pounds for the full year are significantly impacted by varied experiences of Covid-19 in franchisee markets, the company said.

The sales represent a rise of 7 percent, compared with the sales reported for the fiscal 2021, whereas it also shows a fall of around 25 percent when compared with the sales posted for the year before the pandemic.

For the fiscal 2023 and beyond, the Group has completely excluded Russia from its forecasts given the uncertainty around the reopening of the stores in the country. This will impact the company’s results for the financial year to March 2023 by 6 million pounds as previously guided.

Looking forward to fiscal 2023 the company said,”Covid-19 has had a significant impact on all of our franchise partners’ profitability. Inevitably this has resulted in a need for them to reduce costs and the levels of investment they have been able to make in their businesses. This is likely to mean that the return to pre pandemic levels of trading may take longer and in some cases we may directly contribute to achieve that recovery, which will benefit both our own business and our franchise partners’ businesses in the longer term. ”

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