Strong pound hits Burberry profits
Burberry may be the toast of the fashion pack, but its success abroad has taken its toll. The company, which has been prolific in Asia, has posted adjusted pre-tax profits down 12 per cent £152.3m in the six months to the end of September.
Shares in the brand opened just under one per cent lower as it admitted foreign exchange had hit reported revenue by £75m and adjusted profit before tax by £31m, it said.
Nevertheless, revenues rose seven per cent – or 14 per cent with foreign exchange movements stripped out – to £1.1bn.
Burberry said there had been "some softening" in demand from Asia Pacific during the second quarter, causing it to close nine stores, "reflecting continued evolution of the store portfolio".
But the company said it was increasingly focusing on its accessories lines. In September, it launched its My Burberry perfume, which allows buyers to monogram the bottle, and "relaunched heritage trench coat and cashmere scarves", which feature a "standardised set of options for our trench coat (three fits, three lengths, three colours)", plus the opportunity to monogram cashmere scarves.
Christopher Bailey, the company's chief executive-cum-creative director, hailed a "strong first half"
Looking ahead, in a more difficult external environment, we continue to focus on the things that we can control. Through authentic products, great customer experiences and a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, we remain confident of Burberry's sustained outperformance.