Mothercare partners with Boots as UK franchisee

Mothercare’s new stage in UK. The British childrenswear company, immersed in a deep restructuring, has signed a deal with Boots, UK’s largest pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, to become the company’s franchisee in its local market. The proposed franchisee partnership will be for an initial period of five years. The company will continue to operate in the country after announcing the closure of all its stores in February 2020.

Specifically, Boots will sell the company’s products in larger Boots stores across United Kingdom including a number of Mothercare shop in shops over time, as well as in its online business.

A limited range of Mothercare product will be available to buy online from mid-2020. It is expected that a wider product offer will be available in Boots stores from late summer 2020. “It is great news for Mothercare and our wider group of stakeholders after what has been a tough period,” stated Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive officer of Mothercare.

Mothercare announced that it would shutter all its UK stores before February 2020

In the first half of the year the British company reduced its sales by 13.2%, to 324.1 million pounds (428.2 million dollars). The company’s ebidta stood at 21.2 million pounds (27.9 million dollars), up 14% year-on-year.

In the United Kingdom, like-for-like sales of ​​Mothercare dropped by 2%, while online sales increased by 68.9%. The total revenue of the group in the country dropped by 19.2%, to 131.8 million pounds (174.2 million dollars).

Boots, meanwhile, is the largest pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer in United Kingdom. It is part of the Retail Pharmacy International Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance and it increased its sales by 4.1% to 136.9 billion dollars in its fiscal year 2018.