News roundup--MedicAnimal, Mothercare, more

MedicAnimal.com, which announced the acquisition of PetSupermarket earlier this month, has completed a £10 million Series C funding round led by Balderton Capital, alongside Iris Capital and existing angel investors from Europe, the US and Asia.  This latest investment allows MedicAnimal.com to hire new talent, strengthen its UK position in online pet supplies and further expand into continental European markets.

Simon Calver, the new chief executive at Mothercare told investors he was “up for the challenge” of returning Mothercare to profitability after the maternity and nursery retailer posted pretax losses of £102.9 million in the year ending March 2012, compared to a profit of £8.8 million last year. "We have a long way to go, and the plan to bring the UK business back to acceptable levels of profitability will take three years. We need to invest in ecommerce, be ruthless with our nonstore cost base and use our scale and growth worldwide to drive sourcing economies and pass these savings onto the customers to improve our value for money around the world,” he said in a statement delivering the company’s financial results.

Department-store chain House of Fraser said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation declined 16 percent to £58.6 million in the year to 28th January due to investment in a second distribution centre. Uncertainty in the economy and the unseasonably warm autumn were also to blame for the slump. During the year, House of Fraser relaunched its website, which helped online sales soar 92 percent to become the company’s largest “store”, representing 7.4 percent of sales.

As announced on 26th April, Asos’s retail sales for the full year were up 49 percent to £481.6 million, with international sales doubling to £283.7million in the 12 months to 31st March 2012. Profit before tax and exceptional items was up 43 percent from £28.6 million to £40.9 million. Releasing the company’s audited results this morning, chief executive Nick Robertson said he is positive for the year ahead, adding that Asos remains committed to its goal of achieving £1 billion sales from five major markets by 2015.

More people are struggling with catalogue debt than issues with mortgages and payday loans, says debt advice charity the Money Advice Trust. Its “National Debtline” received more than 25,000 calls for help from people struggling to keep up with payments last year and a further 7,000 calls were taken in the first quarter of 2012.