Mothercare stocks up as CEO steps down

The share price of struggling retailer Mothercare has risen this morning (February 24th) after the chief executive of the company confirmed he is to step down from the role.

Simon Calver announced he has resigned from the position with immediate effect and will be leaving the company completely at the end of next month.

Stocks in Mothercare collapsed in January on the back of a profit warning issued by the firm due to a drop in its revenues when it released its latest financial results. Group worldwide sales were revealed to have fallen by more than six per cent in the 12 weeks to January 4th and UK like-for-like sales were also down by four per cent.

Mothercare chairman Alan Parker stated that the company has made progress in implementing its Transformation and Growth plan since Mr Calver took over as chief executive almost two years ago.

He said: "In particular, Simon Calver's ecommerce expertise has allowed Mothercare to accelerate its development as a multi-channel retailer in the UK. We wish him well in the future. Mothercare has a strong executive management team which is very capable of running the business in the interim while the search for a new CEO is under way."

Shop closures

Mothercare currently runs 40 Early Learning Centre outlets in the UK, as well as 191 Mothercare stores, but the company is planning to scale back these figures in the coming months as part of a bid to improve its financial position.

Following the news of Mr Calver's resignation from his role as chief executive of Mothercare, stocks in the mother-and-baby products retailer were up by 0.4 per cent at 08:36 GMT. Shares were trading at 248.50, up from the 52-week low of 240.25 previously hit by the firm. However, by 10:29 GMT the gain was down to 0.3 per cent.

The appointment of a new chief executive will be seen as a chance to turn around the failing fortunes of the retail company, which has been a dominant presence on the UK high street for a number of decades.

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