Mothercare plc
Mothercare plc is a global, asset-light franchisor of the Mothercare brand for parenting, baby and young children's products (clothing & footwear, home & travel, toys). Through subsidiary Mothercare Global Brand Limited (MGB) it designs, sources and licenses products to 18 franchise partners operating c.331 stores and e-commerce platforms across 29 countries, earning royalties on partners' retail sales plus margin on goods sold under tripartite supply arrangements. A 49%-owned joint venture with Reliance Industries (JVCO 2024 Ltd) covers South Asia, and a 10-year exclusive licence with ebebek covers Turkey.
FY2026 in sixty seconds
year to 28 Mar 2026 · approved 13 Aug 2026 · 93 pages · Companies House
Mothercare, which licenses its baby and children's brand to franchise partners in 29 countries, saw revenue fall to £22.4m in the year to 28 March 2026, from £38.9m the year before. It made a loss before tax of £4.3m, against a profit of £11.9m.
Last year's profit was lifted by a one-off gain from selling 51% of its South Asian brand rights to Reliance Industries. This year, partners sold less in their shops, cutting royalty income by £3.5 million, and the company paid restructuring and refinancing costs. Lower IT and office costs partly offset this. Cash at the year end was £2.8m, down from £4.3m, while borrowings rose to £8.5m. No money was raised from shareholders and no dividend was paid; none has been paid since February 2012.
Management expects no major change in market conditions in the coming year, though conflict in the Middle East is disrupting sales there. The auditor warned of a material uncertainty over whether the company can keep going. It cited a broken loan condition that makes the debt repayable on demand, and the company not keeping to agreed pension funding arrangements.
Royalty income calculated as a percentage of franchise partners' net retail sales
Royalties income £8.3m of £22.4m total revenue in FY26 (2025: £11.8m); MGB generates most of its gross profit from royalties
page 58Lower franchise partner retail sales reducing royalty income
Royalties reduced by £3.5 million as a result of lower retail sales, a primary driver of the £5.3m adjusted gross profit reduction
page 16Results for last year reflect the underlying profitability and cash generation of our asset-light franchise system and the impact of continuing uncertainty on our franchise partners' operations in the Middle East, where any longer-term impact upon supply chains is still unclear at this stage.
page 6The Company has not paid a dividend since February 2012. The Directors understand the importance of optimising shareholder value but remain focused on reducing the pension deficit in the interim; it is the Directors' intention to return to paying a dividend when it is financially prudent to do so. No final dividend is recommended for FY26 (2025: nil) and no interim dividend was paid.
page 68 years on one page · FY2019–FY2026
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GBP millions, negatives in brackets. Per-share lines in pence. Share counts in millions. Margins and returns as percentages, calculated from the filed figures. later is what a following report restated the figure to; vs is a second reading that disagrees. The figure shown is the one the original filing printed, and both readings are kept. Click any figure: opens the report page it was read from, highlighted; shows how it was calculated.
4 figures restated in a later report
Every figure is read again from the following year’s report: 282 confirmed, 8 differ, 4 restated.
No figure has been restated: every figure a later report printed again, it printed the same.
4 more figures were restated in FY2019 to FY2023, which a free account opens.