Mother and baby group Mothercare has said that second quarter group sales fell 0.5% due to slow sales in its home market of the UK.

The company reduced its selling space by 6% in the UK as loss making stores were closed, although this combined with strong comparatives meant that UK like-for-like sales were down 1.8%. This was nevertheless better than had been predicted by analysts, with as much as a 3% decline expected.

Meanwhile, international retail sales were up 12.6% in constant currency and reported retail sales were up 12.4% with all four regions delivering positive growth.

Simon Calver, chief executive of Mothercare, said: "We have delivered another quarter of growth in worldwide network sales. We now operate from 1,393 stores across 60 markets. As planned, during the quarter we closed a further five loss making stores in the UK, and year-on-year increased space by 11.9% across our International markets.

"We continue to see double-digit growth in International retail sales, benefiting from the strength and diversified nature of our International business.

"UK Direct delivered another quarter of growth and we expect further multi-channel progress as we continue to improve our service for customers with next day click-and-collect extended to all UK Early Learning Centre stores in time for Christmas trading.

"In line with the transformation and growth plan, we are continuing to make fundamental improvements to our business in the UK, which will allow us to compete effectively in a changing marketplace. However, the UK market in Home and Travel remained highly promotional and Autumn/Winter Clothing faced the same warm weather challenges as the rest of the sector but is gaining market share. Whilst this has resulted in a margin environment that is more challenging than expected, we continue to focus on profitable sales and cash margin."