Mamas & Papas CEO transitions to chair, new chief announced

Mamas & Papas has promoted its chief operating officer Nathan Williams to CEO as current chief Mark Saunders takes on the role of chair.

The move comes as the British nursery and childrenswear retailer gears up for its next phase of growth, which it said will include expanding within existing and into new markets.

Incoming CEO Williams joined Mamas & Papas as merchandise director in 2018 having previously held senior merchandising roles at British retailer Very and Irish fast fashion giant Primark.

Since joining Mamas & Papas, he’s been credited with playing a pivotal role in the company’s turnaround strategy, a key part of which includes the roll out of a fleet of concessions with British high street giants Next and Marks & Spencer. It opened a total of 15 concessions with the former and two with the latter in 2022.

In the year to March 2022, Mamas & Papas increased sales by 35 percent to 126 million pounds, while its pre-tax profit increased to 6.8 million pounds from 1.2 million pounds a year earlier.

More recently, the company reported record Christmas trading, with sales up 16 percent in the eight weeks to December 25.

Williams said: “With the continuing support of our investors and with Mark as chairman, I’m looking forward to delivering our long-term growth strategy and fulfilling our goal of being the most accessible nursery brand with an unrivalled commitment to its customers.

“This means more concessions, more international trade and further investment in our brand, product, communities and colleagues as we aim to become the global nursery brand of choice.”

Mamas & Papas currently sells in over 30 overseas markets through a network of distributors, agents franchisees, and licensing partners.

Incoming chair Saunders commented: “Having helped design and deliver our turnaround strategy over the past three years, Nathan is ideally placed to lead the business during this next period.

“As a business, we have an unprecedented opportunity to grow our scale and share. I’ll be working closely with him, the rest of the executive and our shareholders to help realise the ambition we’ve set for the business.”