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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/retailandleisure/0,3800011842,39175595,00.htm

Mothercare buggy about new financials software
Coda system giving it some gloss

By Julian Goldsmith

Published: Thursday 27 March 2008

Children's clothing and equipment retailer Mothercare has signed a contract with Coda to provide financials software and services.

The move is part of an effort to streamline the accounts department, following a wider integration prompted by the acquisition of Early Learning Centre (ELC) last June.

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Alongside accounts, ecommerce, supply chain, sourcing and ranging facilities have also been consolidated to support the new group. It is expected these changes will create benefits of £8m after the second year of operation following the acquisition.

According to Mothercare financial controller, Mike Rainer, legacy systems of both retail brands were reaching the limit of their usefulness.

Now, the group will benefit from more efficient accounting processes. One of the more useful features as the company expands internationally is the ability to handle multicurrency accounting.

He told silicon.com: "The system will also give us a bit more gloss in terms of reporting. For instance, we can provide much more detail around statistical data about the stores, such as sales per square foot. We could create this data manually but it would take longer."

Rainer said those who will benefit most from the sort of data he could now provide will be operational managers, such as the operations director and the stores director, who will be tasked with running the business on a day-to-day level across 230 Mothercare and 210 ELC stores.