Burberry Group plc announces first half trading update.
First half highlights
Total revenue £883m, up 8% underlying
Retail revenue £577m, up 10% underlying
- Comparable store sales growth 3% (Q1: 6%; Q2: 1%)
- Q2 lower footfall countered by higher quality sales and average spend
- Prorsum and London penetration up six percentage points
- New mens tailoring and mens accessories performed strongly
- Hong Kong, France and Germany robust; UK and China slowed in Q2
Wholesale revenue £253m, up 5% underlying
- In line with guidance
- H2 underlying wholesale revenue expected to be broadly unchanged
Licensing revenue £53m, down 5% underlying
- Consistent with full year guidance of broadly unchanged revenue year-on-year
- H2 global launch of The Britain watch
- Fragrance and beauty to be directly operated from 1 April 2013
Ongoing investment in retail
- 13 new mainline stores
- Openings in flagship markets including Milan, Rome, Hong Kong and Regent Street, London
- H2 average retail selling space expected to increase by about 14%
- FY capital expenditure plans unchanged at £180-200m
Angela Ahrendts, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“Against record prior year comparatives, Burberry delivered 8% total revenue growth and 10% retail growth in the first half, albeit slowing in the second quarter. In a more challenging external environment, footfall declined but brand momentum remained strong, particularly with our higher spending luxury consumer.
Our highly experienced team remains very focused on the consistent execution of our key strategies, engaging consumers through innovative retail and digital marketing initiatives as we enter the most important quarter of the year. We continue to invest for long term growth in flagship and emerging markets, while tightly controlling discretionary spend."
