Mothercare welcomes Blooming Marvellous addition to family

The brand - which caters for mums-to-be who want fashionable maternity wear, as well as offering a range of children's clothes and toys - was founded in 1983 as a mail order company.

Mothercare chief executive Ben Gordon plans to develop the brand before eventually rolling out the Blooming Marvellous ranges across its stores.

Although Mothercare's Spin pushchair and the Baby K range - fronted by singer Myleene Klass - are still proving popular, Mothercare's latest update continued the pattern of strong international growth and tougher conditions in an "uncertain" UK climate.

International sales from its fast-growing franchise business were up 20 per cent, but like-for-like UK sales were down 4.1 per cent in the 15 weeks to 10 July.

This was deeper than the 1.6 per cent decline seen in the previous quarter as the group battled against comparisons with strong sales growth last year.

Mothercare is planning "cautiously" for the rest of the year but is looking to bolster its UK performance by shifting towards more profitable out-of-town stores, which it believes will offset lower margins.