Mum's the word: Mothercare's administrators are working to honour existing orders with DHL
Mothercare’s administrators Zelf Hussain, David Robert Baxendale and Mark James Tobias Banfield of PwC have been offered a life line in maintaining delivery of exist orders by DHL.
The Swindon based logistics organisation were four years into a five year contract to distribute the mother and child retail chain’s goods. However when Mothercare called in the administrators thousands of items were in mid transit meaning parents up and down the country were waiting to receive goods they had already paid for.
Ian Carrotte of ICSM Credit said good administrators work with creditors to ensure continuity and if possible they can salvage something of a defunct company and even find a buyer.
He said: “This is positive news from DHL as members of the public could have lost cash for a variety of products from Mothercare. This move hopefully will see existing orders honoured.
“Our members had passed on concerns about the retail giant for some months, helping to warn associates of potential trouble.”
Writing in Logistics Manager magazine Christopher Walton said Mothercare is closing its remaining 79 UK stores and its Mothercare Business Services on Tuesday 5 November. He said: “The entities in administration employ 384 distribution and head office staff and 2,485 retail staff. In 2015 Mothercare extended its national distribution contract with DHL Supply Chain for a further five years, extending a 25-year relationship.”
A spokesperson for DHL Supply Chain said: “Following today’s news, in the coming weeks we will offer every assistance to Mothercare’s administrators to maximise the possibility of the business having an ongoing and successful future, while doing our utmost to safeguard our colleagues on the account. In the short term, we will work with the administrator to support deliveries to customers who have already placed orders.”
It was a question of how long before another big name on the High Street called in the administrators with Mothercare’s management facing the inevitable collapse.
With its beautifully illustrated catalogue and advertising literature it will be a big blow to the print, paper and photographic industries as well as logistics and its suppliers including Maclaren and Silvercross.
Then there are the staff who may be looking for a new job before Christmas, the signage and graphics people behind all those signs and the many firms involved in the IT and support systems. With 152 shops in Britain and 2,500 jobs plus many more in supporting roles this is a body blow for GB plc.
Writing in the Retail Gazette Elias Jashan said: “Mothercare has announced that it will file notices of intent to appoint administrators with the court today, less than 18 months after it launched a CVA. The notices pertain to Mothercare’s businesses services subsidiary and its UK retail business, which has 79 stores. Although Mothercare said the two affected subsidiaries will trade as per usual, the plans to put its UK retail businesses into administration places hundreds of jobs at risk. The maternity retailer stressed that all other aspects of the company – such as its profitable international division – are not covered by the notices of intent.”
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