Corporate affairs upheaval for BHS and Mothercare

High street retail outlets British Home Stores and Mothercare will

be looking for new corporate affairs teams following the announcement

this week that parent company Storehouse is to split them.

Poor profit performance and a falling share price have led to a plan for

a division of the two household names.

Storehouse’s corporate affairs are now managed by Caroline Baugh,

reporting to board director Stephen Pain.

Baugh said: ’Incrementally over time, Storehouse’s corporate affairs

function will be passed on to BHS and Mothercare.’

Storehouse’s financial PR is handled by Brunswick, and it is understood

this is not likely to change. The company split is set for completion by

2001.

Karin Silverstein, PR manager for BHS, has augmented the work of her

four-strong in-house team by using Freud Communications on a project

basis for the past five months. Kim Blake PR has done BHS’s product PR

for more than two years.