Mothercare
 | |
| Company type | Public (LSE: MTC) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Headquarters | Cherry Tree Road, Watford, Hertfordshire |
Key people | Ian Peacock (Chairman of the board), Ben Gordon (CEO) |
| Revenue | £676.8 million (yr to Mar 2008)[1] |
 £38.5 million (yr to Mar 2008)[1] | |
| £27.8 million (yr to Mar 2008)[1] | |
Number of employees | 7,626 (yr to Mar 2008)[1] |
| 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 250 Index.
History
The Company was founded by the entrepreneur Selim Zilkha 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 which it owns 50 per cent of.[5]
Operations
The Company operates online, on the high street and out of town, and has over 200 shops in the UK. It also operates outside the UK, and as of November 16 2006 had 307 stores operating in 38 countries.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2008" (PDF). Mothercare. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ a b c d Mothercare Chief Executive ousted after fourth profits warning in under a year
- ^ a b c UK Business Park:Storehouse
- ^ "Mothercare to buy Early Learning Centre", Reuters, April 30 2007
- ^ Mothercare pre-tax profits increase tenfold, back from the brink. Baby Chums, May 22 2009.
- ^ "Overseas sales boost Mothercare", BBC News, November 16 2006
External links
Storehouse plc - article from Funding Universe [[1]]
Storehouse plc - article in New York Times [[2]]