British maternity and baby wear retailer Mothercare said yesterday that
the company reported a slight decline in its UK sales for the quarter
ended recently. This was reported the first decline in its
like-for-like UK sales after 18 quarterly sales growth in a row. The
decline in UK sales also surprised the market analysts who were
expecting some better results for the quarter.

In its recently released quarterly report, the British retailer said
that in the quarter ended March 11, the company reported a decline of
1.6% in sales at its British stores open at least a year. The quarterly
sales figures missed the expectations of the analysts as they ranged
the sales from fall of 1% to an increase of 2.8%. On the other hand,
the international sales were reported up by 19.3% in the quarter.

Mothercare, the owner of the Early Learning Centre chain, said that the
decreased UK sales were mainly attributable to the to severe winter
weather. The retailer also said that the impact of the bad weather was
dampened by the tight cost control measures and a strong performance of
the company in overseas markets.

"In the fourth quarter the extreme weather conditions adversely
impacted performance, resulting in an extension of our winter sale,
although the impact was offset by tight cost control," said Ben Gordon,
chief executive of Mothercare.