Mother and baby products retailer Mothercare has seen success in the early days of its turnaround plan, led by its new CEO Mark Newton-Jones.

Since Mr Newton-Jones took over as interim boss in March after Simon Calver quit, he has “already made a substantial difference in many areas” including the introduction of a “new approach” to trading which Mothercare’s chairman Alan Parker said was reflected in the latest results. He has since been confirmed as the group’s permanent CEO.

In the 15 weeks to July 12th, UK like-for-like sales were up 0.9% and the group’s international returned to double-digit growth.

In a statement, Mr Parker, said: "I am delighted to welcome Mark Newton-Jones as CEO. Mark is a first-class retailer with more than 30 years of experience and a highly successful track record. His business transformation expertise gives me confidence that we will achieve our plan to turnaround the UK business and continue our strong International growth.

"Mark has already made a substantial difference in many areas since he joined us, including the introduction of a new approach to trading and we have made an encouraging start to the year. I am pleased that our International business has returned to double-digit constant currency growth and the UK has reported a small positive number for like-for-like sales growth."

In his “initial thoughts” Mr Newton-Jones said that the UK business “needs modernising” and requires investment in its infrastructure, its stores and its head office systems.