Mothercare halves losses as chief executive Newton-Jones's turnaround plan takes effect

Mothercare said it halved its losses for the full year as a result of new chief executive Mark Newton-Jones's turnaround plan.

The pregnancy and children's product retailer reported a loss of £13.1m ($20.54m, €18.44m), less than half of last year's £26.3m.

Newton-Jones joined the company permanently in July 2014 after working as interim chief executive. He was hired to change the company's structure after it had undergone severe losses.

In its report on the year ending 28 March 2015, Mothercare reported a 2% rise in UK and a 5.6% rise in international like-for-like sales.

"This has been an eventful year for Mothercare, but one in which we have started to make significant progress towards putting our UK business on a firmer footing and further developing our international business for continued long-term growth," Newton-Jones said.

After Newton-Jones's appointment as interim CEO in March 2014, the company received two takeover proposals from Destination Maternity, a US-based rival retailer, but the companies failed to reach an agreement on a potential deal.

The retail has closed 31 loss-making Mothercare stores in the UK, 13.5% of its UK total.

In an effort to branch out internationally, the company opened four stores in South Korea and is planning on closing stores in South Africa, while branching out in other countries, such as Russia.

"We are continually looking for ways to maximise the potential and quality of our international business, which includes entering new markets, opening new stores, extending existing stores and closing underperforming stores where appropriate," the company said.