Mamas and Papas hires advisers to explore sale

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 30, 2019

Nursery retailer Mamas and Papas has hired a financial adviser to consider strategic options following a year of losses and flat sales.

The company is understood to have appointed Deloitte to advise it on a potential sale, reported The Times on Monday.

It comes only five years after the business embarked on a company voluntary agreement (CVA) which allowed it to close half of its stores.

In January, Mamas and Papas parent owner Stork Beta posted annual losses for a second consecutive year, with pre-tax losses reaching £8.3 million in the year to 1 April 2018. 

Sales remained broadly flat at £121 million, the company revealed in its most recent accounts.

Mamas and Papas has been owned by Bluegem, a private equity firm, since 2014. It was acquired shortly after its CVA, and the restructuring led to a return in profitability celebrated with the opening of a large store in Westfield Stratford City in 2015.

The brand, founded in Huddersfield in 1981, was planning to open a string of concept shops in areas with young affluent families, starting with a store in Battersea, south London.