Baby goods firm Mamas and Papas has toasted a record-breaking year with sales topping £150m.
The Huddersfield business designs, wholesales and retails stylish pushchairs, nursery, maternity and children’s clothing ranges to for the nursery market both in the UK and overseas.
Now Stork Beta Ltd – the parent company for the Mamas and Papas Group – has published accounts for the year ending March 31 2024, showing a 7.1% jump in turnover to £154.3m as well as continued growth in its market share.
Despite a number of economic challenges, the company’s adjusted Ebitda was £13.2m, up from £10.4m, which bosses said reflected strong like-for-like UK sales growth, new openings and and new partner growth within its international wholesale channel, as well as strong cost control. Operating profit, meanwhile, dipped from £8.4m to £7.1m and overall profit for the period was £3.8m, down from £5.3m. Staff numbers increased in the period, from 539 employees to 586.
A report within the accounts highlighted strong retail sales, which were 14% ahead of the prior year with sales in concession stores growing by 48% as it opened a further six concessions and benefitted from the full year impact of 15 openings the year before, which performed very well. Its total wholesale business also saw sales increase to £108.1m from £105.8m.
The report said: “Despite the external economic headwinds, the business has had a record-breaking year with sales increasing by 7.1% to £154.3m for the year. The roll-out of concessions continues to be a key feature of the group’s strategy, leveraging existing relationships with Next and M&S. Our own stores also benefitted from strong footfall on retail parks. UK stores remain the largest part of the business and there is continued focus on store profitability, as well as having a flexible lease portfolio and attractive rents.
“Our digital business also performed very well growing sales by 4.8%, with an increase in customer acquisition and website traffic. There is continued focus on improving the digital experience for our customer through investment in site enhancements.”
Last year saw the firm seal agreements to open up partnerships with retailers in South East Asia, adding to partnerships in Spain and its growing presence in Germany, France, Spain and Italy through Amazon.
The report highlighted how a decline in the Middle East and planned decline in other territories was offset by the business focusing on new key markets and partners.
It added: “In the UK, increased investments have been made with key partners to support the Mamas & Papas brand and consistency in this channel. A feature of our international business was the roll-out of our ‘shop in shop’ concept with a key retail partner in Spain, as well as landing some new partnerships in Asia.”
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
