The strife at Mothercare (MTC) deepened on Friday when it revealed that sales plunged 9% last year and losses rose. Chief executive Mark Newton-Jones believes he can rebuild the business as a “global brand” as “it is now on a sounder financial footing”. He has slashed debts from £44 million to £6.9 million. It has entered a company voluntary arrangement, closed a third of its stores and is trying to grow online. Interim executive chairman Clive Whiley said shareholders deserved to be told “what went wrong” as cash-flow problems were “further fuelled by a fracture in the relationship between the non-executive and operating executives, a breakdown in trust with key shareholders and the appointment of an array of increasingly expensive professional advisers”.
The Ocado Group (OCDO) co-founder going up against his old company has delivered a bloody nose to his rival by poaching a key lieutenant. Jonathan Faiman, who set up Ocado with chief executive Tim Steiner and Jason Gissing nearly 20 years ago, has lured away one of its longest-serving employees to his new venture, Today Development Partners. Jon Hillary, who resigned last week, is one of the most senior staff at Ocado below board level, having joined 18 years ago. He was responsible for developing the online grocer’s logistics and automation processes as its head of development and engineering, as well as the design and build of its network of customer fulfilment centres, complete with robot technology. Latterly he has also been Ocado’s group transformation director as the company sells its tech offering to major retailers around the world. TDP is working with Waitrose on plans to drive online growth following Ocado’s planned £750 million sale of half its retail arm to Marks & Spencer Group (MKS), which leaves Ocado’s long-standing supply partner Waitrose out in the cold. The defection comes two days after M&S unveiled a £600 million rights issue to fund the deal, at a 32% discount. Hillary’s resignation is understood to have caused consternation at Ocado’s Hatfield headquarters, coming during final preparations for the cash call.
Chris Grayling’s transport department was sued for the third time in a month today as a trio of train giants launched legal action over his decision to bar them from the lucrative West Coast rail franchise. Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains, along with partners Stagecoach Group (SGC) and France’s SNCF, filed a claim with the High Court, claiming the department crippled any chance of a competitive tendering process on that franchise. It comes just weeks after P&O sued the department over Grayling’s ferry fiasco and Arriva and Stagecoach launched actions over the East Midlands franchise. The train operators are heading to court because Grayling had insisted new rail bidders take on billions of pounds in potential pension liabilities, disqualifying those who did not comply.
