The company said it had appointed Ben Gordon as its new boss. Mr Gordon has joined Mothercare from Walt Disney where he was the head of Disney Stores in Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

Mothercare has been seeking a replacement since its former chief executive Chris Martin left in July, after a number of profit warnings.

Mr Gordon will take up his new position later this year.

Press reports last month had said that Mothercare was talking to the former boss of BHS, Terry Green, about him taking up the role.

Warehouse woe

Mothercare has seen its share price halve in the last year after it warned three times that its profits would not meet expectations.

Many of the problems stemmed from the move to a new warehouse in Daventry, which led to stock shortages and escalating costs.

In the last financial year, pre-tax profits slumped from £10.2m to £4.2m.

In July, Mothercare said underlying sales for the 14 weeks to 12 July had fallen 3.1%, and that it expected to post a first-quarter loss of £5.4m compared with a profit of £2.3m in the same period last year.