Mothercare appoints KPMG to avert collapse

Mothercare has called in accountants KPMG to handle its refinancing in order to avoid collapse.

The childcare retailer appointed KPMG to help it obtain waivers for loan agreements with banking lenders HSBC and Barclays.

Since the start of the year Mothercare, which has 152 shops in the UK and 1,131 shops worldwide, has seen its share price plummet by 76% following two profit warnings.

It said in a statement earlier this month it expects underlying pre-tax profits to come in at the lower end of the £1-5m range it had previously guided.

It is understood last summer it is understood Mothercare refinanced after discussions with its lenders HSBC and Barclays. This saw it’s £50m facility to a £62.5m revolving credit facility, and a £5m overdraft with £12.5m of the revolving credit facility maturing in November this year.

A spokesperson for Mothercare said: “We are also exploring additional sources of financing to support and maintain the momentum of our transformation programme. All of these discussions are ongoing.”