Shares of the maternity and baby wear retailer came down by 5.5 per cent following its claim that the like-for-like sales had reduced by 5.8 per cent in the UK during the third quarter.

The weak performance by the UK markets has inferred that the net group sales increased by only 0.4pc despite sales at its international division increasing by 9.6 per cent.

According to Ben Gordon, chief executive, the pre-tax profits would be lower than the present market expectations. Even the analysts reduced their entire year pre-tax profit predictions from about £38m to about £33m.

Mothercare is the newest between the list of store groups - like Alexon and HMV - for publishing profit warnings.

According to Mr. Gordon, the company made a loss of £7m worth of sales because of the snow.

He added that they have estimated that the weather disruption had cut down the UK like-for-like sales in the third quarter by around 4 per cent. He further said that the toy sales especially had been hit hard.

Added rivalry and competition in the toy sector, and especially from the supermarkets, was also a reason for the reduction.