Mothercare hires new top boss as Covid recovery ‘taking time’
Baby clothes seller Mothercare has named Dan Le Vesconte as its new CEO, as the retailer admitted that a recovery to pre-pandemic trading was “taking time.”
The Watford-based company is seeking to recover from a torrid pandemic, which shuttered some 79 high street stores after collapsing into administration just before the first Covid lockdown.
Le Vesconte will be coming to the firm from a top job at fashion firm Abercrombie & Fitch as group vice president for its European markets.
International franchise partners saw retail sales buoyed 15 per cent over the last year, booking £162.1m, despite halting sales in Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine.
The brand’s “immediate priority” was helping its franchise partners to “navigate out of this suppressed demand period, recover from supply chain disruptions and rebuild their store footfall whilst growing their digital sales.”
The retailer’s profit had taken a hammering over the past six months, sharing £0.4m in profit for the period to the end of September.
This was compared to a £3.6m profit last year, when the company swung back into the black after booking a multi-million pound loss amid the Covid outbreak.
More to follow…