I have been in and out of these a few times :-)) ..... bumping around their bottom but starting to bounce a little ..... closed @ 87/90p on Friday.

They have fallen from grace because of poor distribution probelens caused by poor management and an out of House warehousing system. THis is being sorted and new guys have replaced the old .....

Great brand name and selling could be overdone ..... anyway I am in for a few @ 90p and will let them ride for a while - not a t trade. Recent director buying around this price


ains


bought @ 90p - currently moving up at 141/145p 13/05 = plus 56.66% net

nice close @ 117/119p on relatively modest volume .... up 30% net since we started and 9% today



ains

A mini bout of early morning profit taking was soon squashed and we are on the move northwards again ..... 118/123p up over 2% intraday on high volume of nearly 200K


ains

M+G have added another 127K and have a total of 10.6 million shares or 15.03%

Currently 120/124p


ains

Ticking up again @ 123/126p ...... highest for 8 months

Lot of talk in recent days that looking after children is one of the fastest growing areas in the service industry - just wondering if this brushes off on to parents spendng more



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Still ticking up @ 126/129p .... keeps looking over bought on the ST indicators .... but becomes even more so

H2 later this month - maybe some good news is on it's way


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Up again on early morning buys ..... something is going on


127/131p

Ticking up again @ 132/136

...... and again @ 135/138 on modest volume ..... now showing a 50% net gain since we started :-))



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Debs have just received a bid and with selfridges also on offer - starts to look interesting



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138/142 up 7.69% on the day .... looks like the retail sector is still looking for consolidation

LONDON (Reuters) - Department store chain Debenhams says it has received an indicative 425 pence per share cash offer from Permira Advisers, valuing the firm at about 1.54 billion pounds.
The firm DEB.L said its board had agreed that the firm's executives could work on the indicative offer proposal.

bouncing back again afer some profit taking ..... now 137/141p with mm buying

Still ticking up on vague rumours ..... now 141/145p up 2.5% on the day and a massive 57% since we started 3 moths ago ..... volumes have been high for the last few days and we are on a new 8 month high for the shares


ains

A lot of profit taking yesterday but still way above our entry point. Might be prudent to take some profits at this time.

ains


Mothercare to go with kids' fashion
By Alison Smith
Published: May 16 2003 21:52 | Last Updated: May 16 2003 21:52


Mothercare, the struggling specialist retailer, will next week set out a sharp change in strategy that will put its high street stores at the centre of its plans for revival.




Ben Gordon, who took over as chief executive at the maternity and baby goods chain in December, intends to change the group's focus from expanding the number of large out-of-town stores to making better use of its 170-plus high street sites.

Mothercare plans to make fashion a much greater element in the high street stores, a move that will make it more directly competitive with retailers such as Next and Marks and Spencer in terms of children's wear.

The extra prominence and space given to clothing will be at the expense of items of equipment such as buggies and car seats, which will be restricted to a couple of the most popular models.

The approach was developed in a series of trials when the retailer experimented with what merchandise the high street stores should stock.

These revealed that though many people buy basics such as nappies and baby wipes from supermarkets, customers still expected to be able to buy these in Mothercare if they wished.

So the group has decided that the stores must still stock these to underpin the brand, which has proved resilient in spite of a consistently poor recent trading performance.

What were once ambitious plans to increase the number of out-of-town stores from 63 to at least 100 have been quietly scaled back, partly because of the difficulty finding suitable sites.

Even though the high street stores have not undergone a significant refurbishment programme for more than a decade, the revamp should be considerably cheaper than opening significant new out-of-town sites.

This will be particularly welcome in a group that is not only expected to report a pre-tax loss of 12m for the year just ended, but is also saddled with warehouse and distribution costs that it admits are too high.

Many of Mothercare's recent difficulties have been attributed to the warehouse at Daventry, Northamptonshire, which the group acknowledged last year was not ideally suited to its needs.

On arrival, Mr Gordon carried out a review of the supply chain and concluded that the least-worst course was for the retailer to continue to use the facility rather than undergo the upheaval of a further change.

May 17, 2003

TIMES Rumour of the day



MOTHERCARE fell 12p to 129p amid speculation that Thursdays full-year figures from the specialist retailer are likely to disappoint. There is also talk that Steven Glew, who joined as finance director in March after spells at Tesco and Booker, is weighing a rights issue to fund store refurbishments and provide additional working capital. Mothercare claims to have resolved problems at its Daventry warehouse.

Guardian


Saturday May 17, 2003
The Guardian

Mothercare, the babywear retailer which has enjoyed a rally of sorts since February, has been falling in recent days. Yesterday it fell 13p to close at

128.5p as new chief executive Ben Gordon prepared to deliver his first set of results next Thursday.
The man who led Disney Stores in Europe for three years issued a trading update a month after his arrival in December warning that lower than forecast sales over the peak Christmas period would "result in a trading outcome for the current year worse than expectations".

In March the company ousted finance director Mark McMenemy, replacing him with Steven Glew, who had been in a similar role at Booker before it was merged with Iceland.

Mr Glew having had a while to get to know the business, some dealers are suggesting that he is planning a clear-out. Thursday should also bring news on how distribution troubles with warehouse operators are to be resolved.

Interesting and will have an effect ....






Mothercare shocks with 20m pre-tax loss
By Richard Fletcher (Filed: 18/05/2003) S Telegraph


Mothercare, the troubled high street retailer, will announce record pre-tax losses of more than 20m this week - nearly double the 12m loss expected by City analysts.

The losses may overshadow ambitious plans by Ben Gordon, the newly appointed chief executive, to outline his strategy for reviving the fortunes of the maternity and baby goods retailer.

Following a gloomy trading update in January, City analysts had expected losses of 12m for the year to March 29. However, stock writedowns and the adoption of more conservative accounting policies have led to further exceptional items of at least 8m.

The company has not been under any obligation to disclose the spiralling losses because they relate to exceptional items. Since January's trading statement Mothercare shares have risen by 49 per cent.

The Telegraph has also learnt that a dozen senior managers in Mothercare's operations and buying departments have left the retail group in recent weeks. Gordon is expected to outline plans on Thursday to take on Marks & Spencer and Next with a renewed focus on fashionable childrenswear.

Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur, is to meet Safeway this week to discuss his 3bn bid for the supermarket chain. In April, Green requested further financial details from Safeway. However, it refused to provide the information until Green agreed to meet the retailer and provide a copy of his own plans for the group

Market quite like the news and the shares are up 5% and have been higher


Results for the 52 weeks ended 29 March 2003

Key Financials



* Group sales up 1.1% to #431.7m (2002: #426.9m)

* Gross margins up 0.2 percentage point to 41.8%, with a 1.3 percentage
point improvement in the second half year

* Adjusted operating loss* #10.4m (2002: #3.0m)

* Exceptional charges and one-off items totalling #14.5m

* Loss before tax of #24.8m (2002: profit before tax of #0.1m)

* Balance sheet cash positive: operating cash inflow of #8.3m (2002:
outflow of #10.5m)

* Strong performances from Mothercare Direct and Mothercare International

* Basic loss per share 22.0p (2002: earnings per share 0.2p)

* No dividend (2002: 2.5p per share)



*Adjusted operating loss refers to the operating loss excluding exceptional
charges and one-off items of #14.5m. (See Results Summary).



Current Trading



* Encouraging current trading with UK like-for-like sales for the seven
weeks to 16 May 2003 up 2.8% and an increase in gross margins.



Ian Peacock, Chairman, said:



"Since joining Mothercare as Chief Executive in December 2002, Ben Gordon and
his management team have moved quickly to stabilise the business. While much
remains to be done to restore Mothercare to proper levels of profitability,
encouraging progress is being made."



Ben Gordon, Chief Executive, said:



"The business is now on a stable platform and we have developed a plan to turn
Mothercare around. We are focusing on five key areas:- the store proposition,
product and sourcing, supply chain, customer service and infrastructure. While
the turnaround programme will take some three years to complete, we are making
good progress in delivering our plan.



"During the fourth quarter of the year trading strengthened. We have continued
to build on this performance in the current year and, whilst it is too early to
say whether it is the start of a sustained improvement, the first seven weeks
have been encouraging."

LONDON (AFX) - Mothercare PLC, the maternity and baby goods retailer, slumped to a worse-than-expected full-year pretax loss, omitted its dividend and warned its turnaround programme will take three years to complete.
Nevertheless, the group, now run by former Walt Disney executive Ben Gordon, said it was encouraged by current trading.

For the 52 weeks to March 29 2003, Mothercare reported a pretax loss of 24.8 mln stg -- massively worse than analysts' expectations of a loss of around 12 mln stg and down from a pretax profit of 0.1 mln stg last time.

The retailer took exceptional charges and one-off items totalling 14.5 mln stg.

The adjusted operating loss (excluding the exceptional charges and one-off items) was 10.4 mln stg.

Group sales were up 1.1 pct to 431.7 mln stg.

Mothercare's gross margins were up 0.2 of a percentage point to 41.8 pct, with a 1.3 percentage point improvement in the second half.

Its balance sheet is cash positive -- operating cash inflow of 8.3 mln stg versus an outflow of 10.5 mln stg.

Basic loss per share totalled 22.0 pence versus earnings per share of 0.2 pence. No dividend was proposed versus a 2.5 pence payout last time.

In the first seven weeks of the new year to May 16 UK like-for-like sales were up 2.8 pct.

Gross margins have continued the improvement in performance experienced in the second half of last year, reflecting the benefits of better availability and a focus on full-price trading.

"The business is now on a stable platform and we have developed a plan to turn Mothercare around," said chief executive Gordon, who joined Mothercare last December.

"We are focusing on five key areas: the store proposition, product and sourcing, supply chain, customer service and infrastructure. While the turnaround programme will take some three years to complete, we are making good progress in delivering our plan."

"During the fourth quarter of the year trading strengthened. We have continued to build on this performance in the current year and, whilst it is too early to say whether it is the start of a sustained improvement, the first seven weeks have been encouraging."

Mothercare shares closed Wednesday at 122-1/2 pence, capitalising the company at 86.6 mln stg.

jdd/ak

Buyers coming in strongly now and all 8 mm's are blue - volumes arlready 2/3rds of the daily average within 45 minutes of opening



Shares up 8% intraday



ains