THE turnaround plan at Mothercare took a step forward today as the parenting retailer revealed a return to sales growth.

The group, which operates 203 Mothercare and 77 Early Learning Centres in the UK, said like-for-like store sales rose 0.3% in the 13 weeks to October 13, compared to a 6.7% slump in the first quarter, while online sales also returned to growth.

Chief executive Simon Calver said the chain’s value ranges performed strongly, as well as the Little Bird clothing range from Jools Oliver, wife of TV chef Jamie Oliver.

The babycare firm, which slumped to a £103m loss in the year to March, closed 31 stores in the first six months as part of its cost-cutting plan, against its target of around 50 closures for the whole year.

The wider group, which operates 1,098 international stores, saw total sales decline 7.5% as the impact of the UK store closures offset 10.8% growth overseas.