Luxury fashion retailer Burberry announced strong financial results for the first quarter (Q1) with latest figures proving encouraging for the brand.
Despite only adding one extra store to its repertoire in Q1, it announced an 18% underlying increase of retail revenue of £339m.
A large chunk of its revenue this fiscal year consisted of licensing revenue worth £82m.
Angela Ahrendts, CEO, Burberry, said that she was pleased with the Q1 retail performance and said: “Spring/Summer 2013 was a standout season driven by innovative marketing, cohesive monthly fashion groups and exceptional execution from all corporate and regional teams. Looking forward, the macro outlook remains uncertain and we will continue to focus our investment on profitable high growth opportunities by channel, region and product categories.”
During the first quarter, Burberry opened seven mainline stores and closed six. Openings included two stores in Shanghai, a third store in Mexico and a relocation in Frankfurt.
By region, the company enjoyed double-digit comparable store sales growth in Asia Pacific and the Americas and more modest high single-digit growth in the EMEIA region, the newly formed region integrating Europe and Rest of World. Offline growth was led by Asian territories such as Hong Kong and China, while France and Germany remained robust and Korea showed early signs of improvement.
Gregor Jackson, partner at luxury retail consultancy gpstudio, said that the brand has returned to its roots and reclaimed its heritage to rediscover its brand. He said: “Burberry‘s focus on its core range has paid off – no mean feat when you compare this performance to, for example, Mulberry. The brand has become a media owner as much as a manufacturer and retailer.”
