Premium fashion brand Burberry has reported “double-digit growth” in the Asia Pacific region for the three months to 31 December 2013.
Overall retail revenue rose 14 per cent to £528m and like-for-like sales were in line with expectations to 12 per cent. It achieved mid to high single digit growth in the Americas and EMEIA region.
Burberry, which opened five new stores in Q3, said outerwear which includes its classic trenchcoats and large leather goods such as its alligator and tote bags contributed about half of mainline growth.
Men‘s tailoring and accessories grew again strongly.
CEO Angela Ahrendts, who will leave Burberry for Apple later this year, said its performance reflected “strong brand momentum.”
”We are confident that our proven strategies will continue to deliver long-term value for shareholders,” she added.
Burberry recently opened its first Beauty box store in Covent Garden, London last month and expects £140m in underlying wholesale revenue in FY 2014, but profits are expected to only be £10m.
“The high cost of advertising and the need to maintain visibility exposes one of the drawbacks of a luxury retail strategy in the mass market,” explained Anusha Couttigane, Senior Retail Consultant at Conlumino.
The retailer said traffic remained weak offline and but grew online. Operating margin was 17.1 per cent.
