Mothercare has announced that its CEO Mark Newton-Jones is stepping down
from his position, as well as a number of other changes to its leadership
team, in an update of the company’s ongoing transformation plan announced in
November.
The maternity and babywear specialist said that Newton-Jones will remain
as an executive director until July 2020 as it completes its transformation
and has “agreed to make himself available as a non-executive director
thereafter.”
Chief financial officer Glyn Hughes will become interim CEO with
immediate effect.
Additionally, executive chairman Clive Whiley has become non-executive
chairman with effect from 29 March 2020, while Andrew Cook, who has been
corporate development director at the company since April 2019, will join
the main board as chief financial officer with immediate effect.
The company, whose UK business fell into administration in November and
has since closed all 79 of its stores, said in the last 12 weeks it has
made “significant progress” with its plans to “move forward as a profitable
international franchise operation, generating revenues through an
asset-light model, operating in over 40 international territories.”
Mothercare ‘broadly on track’ with recapitalisation of group
In December, the retailer announced that Mothercare Global Brand had
agreed for Boots UK to become its exclusive franchisee in the UK. “We are
on track with the process of finalising the detailed contractual
arrangements with Boots, which are expected to last for an initial period
of five years,” Mothercare said.
It also said it was “broadly on track” with the planned recapitalisation
of the group after raising 8.7 million pounds from its existing investors,
and added that here has been “a substantial reduction in the bank debt of
the group through the administration of Mothercare UK Limited.” It is
continuing to explore options to finalise the recapitalisation of the
business.
Commenting on the updates in a statement, Clive Whiley, chairman of
Mothercare, said: “Our plans for the final steps of the recapitalisation of
the group are in hand and whilst the cash realisation from the Mothercare
UK administration was lower than anticipated, the progress that we have
made elsewhere means that the financing requirement overall is unchanged
from our original plans.
“The board changes announced today align the management of Mothercare
with that of its new structure as an international franchise brand and will
contribute to a further overhead reduction. In time we plan to add relevant
skills and expertise – particularly in brand and product management – to
the team to accelerate our development as an international brand owner and
operator.”
Photo credit: Mothercare, Facebook
