Mothercare to close 110 stores

Rents will be cut on a further 40 stores, the Watford-based group said, squeezing incomes for high street landlords even further. The new focus will be on out-of-town Parenting Centres, which contain its Early Learning Centre brand.

Most of the closures will be stores where the lease expires over the next two years. Mothercare has 120 of these, which will limit the cost to £5m, it said.

Total store numbers in the UK will decline from 373 to 266, with 102 of these set to be out-of-town Parenting Centres.

The group, which warned about weak UK sales in March, said it expects big savings from the restructuring.

Its UK problems meant pre-tax profits fell from £32.5m to £8.8m in the year to March, despite another strong performance from its international business, where sales jumped by 16 per cent.

Troubled music retailer HMV announced in January it would cut 60 stores from its UK network, while electrical retailers Comet and Dixons have also signalled their intention to cut outlets. Comet said last week it would close 10 stores while Dixons is said to want to cut its UK store numbers from 600 to 450.

Mothercare’s announcement comes a day after retail guru Mary Portas launched a campaign to rejuvenate local shopping in Britain.

Town centre vacancy rates have doubled over the past two years, said Ms Portas, who will advise the Government on how to increase the number of small and independent retailers to tackle the problem of vacant shops.