MOTHERCARE TAKES £72m HIT ON SALE OF CHAIN

STRUGGLING retailer Mothercare is selling the Early Learning Centre (ELC) at a £71.5m loss.

The mother-and-baby chain bought the ELC for £85m a decade ago, and is now selling it to toy retailer The Entertainer for £13.5m.

The ELC operates out of 80 Mothercare stores in the UK, and 250 worldwide. It was founded in 1974 as a mail order business for toys and educational books, opening its first shop in Reading.

Mothercare will use the proceeds to pay off some of its £21.5m debt. The firm, which lost £72.8m in the year to March, has embarked on a drastic store closure programme across the UK amid sliding sales.

It now has 80 British stores compared with 400 a decade ago.

Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive of Mothercare, said: ‘This disposal of Early Learning Centre provides a further step towards eliminating our bank debt.’

The company said it has also struck a deal to sell Entertainer toys in its shops. Shares in Mothercare rose 5.4pc, or 0.9p, to 17.7p.

by Mothercare for ELC in 2007 1974 £85m price paid Early Learning Centre founded as a mail order toys and books firm 80 concessions across Mothercare’s stores, with 250 shops overseas £73.9m sales at ELC in year to March 24, 2018 £899.99 price of the Plum Premium Adventure Playhouse, its most expensive toy £71.5mloss made by Mothercare on its £13.5m sale of ELC