Moving in the right direction: Mothercare reported underlying profits of £2m.
Mothercare hailed a return to profit as international sales boomed and a slimmed-down UK operation narrowed losses.
The underlying profit figure of £2 million for the 28 weeks to October 12 compared to a loss of £1.8m for the same period last year.
However, restructuring and other costs took their toll on the bottom line, meaning the group was still in the red overall by £11m.
Like-for-like sales in the UK were down 1.4%, narrowing from a 3.4% slump in the same period last year, while underlying losses of £14.9m were £2m less than the previous corresponding period.
During the period it shut down 18 loss-making stores in the UK and now has 237 outlets in the country 191 Mothercare and 46 Early Learning Centres. This is a fall from 311 over a year and a half.
Internationally, total sales rose 13% to £399.3m as the business continued its expansion. Like-for-like sales growth was 4.8% and underlying profit was up 13.5% to £25.2m.
