AGM Statement

Mothercare PLC
18 July 2003



                                                                  18th July 2003



                                 Mothercare plc
                       Annual General Meeting Statement


At the Mothercare Annual General Meeting to be held at 10:30 this morning,
Ian Peacock, Chairman, will issue the following update on trading:


'The improvement in trading reported with our preliminary results in May has
continued.  UK like-for-like store sales for the first 15 weeks of the current
financial year to 11th July 2003 are up 3.4% on the same period last year.


In the last year we closed 13 stores and opened 5 stores, leading to a net sales
decline due to space change in the period of 1.5%.  Notwithstanding this impact,
overall UK store sales increased by 1.9%.


Warehousing and Distribution is now working effectively and the resulting
availability improvement has benefited both sales and margins.


Gross margin is showing an improvement on last year of some +5 percentage
points, largely due to a greater emphasis on full price trading and improved
buying margins. However, this increase is before the full impact of our Summer
Sale markdowns which are likely to reduce the improvement to approximately +4
percentage points, subject to the level of promotional activity undertaken.


The International and Direct businesses continue to perform to expectations.


These improvements in both sales and margins are encouraging signs that the
business is on the right track.  However, it is early in the financial year and
we are measuring against a poor and volatile performance in the previous year.'


Enquiries to:


Mothercare plc
Ben Gordon, Chief Executive                                        01923 206 001
Steven Glew, Financial Director                                    01923 206 140

Brunswick Group Limited
Philippa Power/Chi Lo                                              020 7404 5959




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