It is no longer any illusion and has become a reality that British mother and baby products retailer Mothercare is speeding up its expansion in India with plans for 200 stores, double its original target. It is to be noted that the globally acclaimed firm, currently has 23 franchise stores in India, and said on Friday it had formed a new joint venture with real estate company DLF Brands to open standalone stores.
It has come to the knowledge that Mothercare will have possession of 30 percent of the joint venture and DLF will own the remaining 70 percent but Mothercare will have an option to increase its stake to 51 percent in the future. It said the new venture will complement its existing deal with department store retailer Shopper’s Stop to roll out shop-in-shops.
Mothercare plc happens to be a British retailer which specializes in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The Company was founded by the entrepreneur Selim Zilkha in 1961 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1972.
It was the year 1982 when the company merged with Habitat so as to form Habitat Mothercare plc and in 1986 Habitat Mothercare plc merged with British Home Stores to form Storehouse plc. It bought Children’s World from Boots in 1996, and rebranded all of their superstores Mothercare World stores. In 2000 the Bhs stores were sold to Philip Green and Storehouse reverted to the Mothercare brand.
It is worthwhile to mention that Mothercare agreed to buy the Early Learning Centre (ELC) in April 2007 for £85 million. In 2007 Mothercare launched Gurgle, a pregnancy and parenting social networking website which it owns 50 per cent of.
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