Mothercare sales fall 22% amid Middle East disruption

For the full year 2026, Mothercare has reported a 22% decline in global retail sales by franchise partners to £180 million, citing uncertainty in Middle Eastern markets and the end of its exclusive distribution relationship with Boots at the end of 2025.

The global specialist brand for parents and young children said its performance also reflected foreign exchange rate impacts and included the more recent impact of the Iran war in the last month of the period, which it estimated to be approximately £0.1m.

Excluding the Middle East and the UK, the brand highlighted that on a like-for-like basis its retail sales were positive for the full year to March 2026, highlighting the underlying strength of the brand. It added that it continues to see "great opportunity" in the UK market.

Late last year, the brand had announced that its key focus for 2026 was to pursue options to rebuild scale and operations both in the UK and globally.

It reported an adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) of £1.25 million for the 52 weeks ending on 28 March 2026, compared to £3.5 million for the period to March 2025.

Clive Whiley, Chairman of Mothercare, said: "Our results for last year reflect the impact of the continuing uncertainty on our franchise partners’ operations in the Middle East, where any longer-term impact upon supply chains remains unclear at this stage, and the underlying profitability and cash generation of our asset-light franchise system.

"Our immediate priority remains to support our franchise partners, ultimately for the benefit of our own underlying business, where the strength of the Mothercare brand endures. We remain in discussions with several parties to restore critical mass, a process greatly assisted by the recent alignment of the first-charge debt instrument with our equity."

The group added that there were no material changes to its financial position since the announcement made on 20 February 2026, setting out the refinancing of the group’s debt facilities and the deferral of contributions to the group’s pension schemes.

It reported net borrowings of £5.7 million for the full year 2026, compared to £3.7 million in March 2025.

Whiley added: "The full refinancing of our debt facilities in February 2026 has bought additional time to engineer a more comprehensive solution to harvest the value of the brand IP and the significant operational gearing available to an expanded business. In these circumstances the recent financial performance has been usefully resilient as we look to FY27, whilst acknowledging the impact of the continuing disruption from events in the Middle East."

In December 2025, Mothercare reported a loss of £0.5 million for the 26 weeks to 27 September 2025, versus a £1.1 million profit for H1 FY25.