Mothercare goes into administration after Myer family deal fails Cute pyjamas, such as these ones from Mothercare's recent collection, were not enough to save the retailer's Australian business from going into administration. MATERNITY and children's retailer Mothercare Australia has gone into administration after the Myer family pulled the pin on a deal to buy the business. Mothercare Australia said that Myer Family Company (MFO), a 75-year-old trust company that invests the fortune of the department store family and other wealthy individuals, had terminated an agreement made late last year to acquire the retailer for about $6 million. Myer pulled out because some of the purchase conditions were not fulfilled or waived. As a result, Mothercare appointed Brian Silvia and Antony Resnick of BRI Ferrier as administrators. The company had been operating on $500,000 of working capital provided by MFO during the deal talks. MFO had agreed to provide short-term working capital after the retailer earlier said it would need to raise capital to maintain its Australian operations. However, during the due diligence phase in December Mothercare flagged that the deal may not go ahead. "The voluntary administrators are conducting an urgent assessment of the financial affairs of the companies and trading will continue at this time," Mothercare said in a statement today. The company increased its revenues for 2011/12 by 21 per cent but recorded an underlying pre-tax loss of $10.9 million. Mothercare said the loss was a result of restructuring and redundancy costs, an asset write-down and costs relating to the return of stock to suppliers. It also said it had been affected by tough trading conditions in Australia due to weak consumer demand and price wars with its rivals. Mothercare has 28 stores in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. Mothercare Australia, whose parent company Mothercare is based in Britain, also operates Skansen, Baby on a Budget and DoDo Holdings businesses in Australia. Its three Australian brands are Kids Central stores, Early Learning Centre toys, and Mothercare stores. In the UK overnight, the parent company said that it had only a minority stake in the Australian business, which provided about 7 per cent of its international sales. Mothercare also said that its UK managing director Mike Logue, who joined the ailing British parent company just 18 months ago, would leave, to be replaced by the group's chief executive Simon Calver. Investors had been discontented with the company's international expansion, which Mr Logue was in the process of winding back in favour of a focus on the UK business. Mr Calver told The Times yesterday that Mothercare's three-year recovery plan was in track. The company, which is nine months into the turnaround program, closed 11 loss-making stores in the 13 weeks to January 12, and plans to bring down the shutters on more as it tries to return to profit.