Mothercare has had a boost in international sales, but UK sales have fallen.

UK retailer Mothercare has published its trading statement for the first quarter showing improved performance on the international market but a drop in UK sales.

Mothercare has experienced a strong growth of 8% in worldwide network sales in the quarter ending 10 July compared with the same period last year. The figure was boosted by international sales, which have increased by 20.3%.

However, UK like-for-like sales have fallen by 4.1%. According to Mothercare, this is due to the difficult consumer market in the UK at the moment.

Mothercare has a total of 1,167 stores in 53 countries worldwide. 56 new stores were opened during the quarter.

Ian Peacock, Mothercare Chairman, said: “Our strategy of focusing on the global expansion of the Mothercare and Early Learning Centre brands, whilst restructuring the UK business through our property strategy, continues to deliver.

“We have once again seen strong growth in International. In the UK the environment remained challenging, and we were trading against strong first quarter comparatives of +5.1% last year.”

Mothercare also announced today (15 July) that it has acquired the Blooming Marvellous brand and trademark, which sells maternity and baby clothes.

Mr Peacock added: “In the UK we continue to plan cautiously for the remainder of this year. In this context, we expect to invest further margin in our customer offer which will be offset, in part, by cost savings and property restructure.

“Despite the uncertain UK consumer environment we remain well placed to deliver on our global strategy.”