Mothercare, the baby and children's retailer, defied the gloom on the high street to produce a strong trading performance in the fourth quarter, on the back of the successful integration of the Early Learning Centre chain and its programme of international openings.

The company, which bought Early Learning Centre a year ago for £85 million, said that fourth-quarter group sales rose 31.6 per cent and were up 3.9 per cent on a comparable basis.

For the full year to March 29, sales increased 35.1 per cent and were up 4.5 percent on a comparable basis, Mothercare said in a trading update ahead of its full year results on May 22.

Shares in Mothercare climbed 3.5p in early trading to 407.5p.

Ben Gordon, the chief executive, said the company was seeing the fruits of four years of work to turn the company around and move its brand more upmarket. "People like what they find in our stores, not only in the UK but around the world, and that is translating into strong sales," Mr Gordon said.

Mr Gordon said the turnaround was due to a combination of improving the quality of its stock through better sourcing, improvements to the stores and a huge push towards multi-channel sales, including a big web presence, which allowed Mothercare to offer shoppers a much larger range of stock.

In the past, the store sold only 70 buggies now it is able to offer a choice of 400.

Mothercare said that it had seen a solid performance from its UK stores business and a particularly strong performance from Direct in Home, its catalogue, order in-store and internet sales business, which was relaunched last year using Amazon technology. Web sales, either from home or from in-store, now account for 15 per cent of UK sales, Mr Gordon said.

Mothercare shares have outperformed the general retail sector by an impressive 36 per cent over the last six months. There is a view from some analysts that sales of children's goods are relatively immune to recession.

"Certainly people won't stop having babies but they may possibly trade down from a £400 buggy to a £300 one," Mr Gordon said. "Many parents would rather not buy a skirt for themselves than stint on clothes for their baby," he added.

The company has also been focusing on tight stock control which, with favourable exchange rates and its sourcing strategy, has helped margins.

In the UK, like-for-like sales rose 2.9 per cent for the full year. Direct in Home sales for the full year rose by 106.7 per cent and were 19.7 per cent higher on a comparable basis.

During the year the company has opened 77 new franchise stores, taking its total of franchise stores to 494, operating in 48 countries. It has stores in Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia and will open in China this spring.

"International continues its strong momentum, further strengthened by the addition of the Early Learning Centre brand," Mr Gordon said.

Franchises' like-for-like sales were up 12 per cent in the full year and international sales for the full year were up 30 per cent, or 14.6 per cent on a comparable basis.

Mothercare also said that its plan for optimising the group property portfolio is nearing completion. Early Learning Centre areas are to be opened in 75 of Mothercare's larger out-of-town stores after a successful trial.

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