mobanmarketBurberry today announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2008.Angela Ahrendts, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Burberry’s 18% revenue growth and 14% profit increase demonstrate the robustness of our global luxury business in these challenging times, with consistent performance across our regions, channels and products. Brand momentum remains strong and we are investing in the future, continuing to grow and innovate our iconic outerwear, while developing exciting new businesses such as shoes, jewellery and childrenswear.”
Burberry saw consistent double-digit underlying revenue growth by region, channel and product with 26% growth in Europe and Americas; Asia Pacific up 17%. The company saw a 20% growth in retail and wholesale and a 39% growth in non-apparel.
All of this was achieved in an external environment that became increasingly challenging during the second half, Burberry stated. Against this background, Burberry continued to deliver operational efficiencies, while maintaining the strong momentum of the brand with consumers worldwide. Historically, Burberry was a collection of decentralised regions and business units, each with an independent approach in areas such as design, merchandising and supply chain. Over the last year, continued progress has been made in working as one company and one brand – with a more cohesive global advertising campaign, small apparel licences brought in house and further strengthening of the regional and corporate teams. Outerwear, which is the cornerstone of the brand, continues to show strong growth, driven by product and fabric innovation, the launch of Burberry Sport and packables and global replenishment for top styles.
During the year, a record number of Burberry stores were opened – a net 20 mainline stores, 49 concessions and 10 stores operated under franchise. These included directly-operated mainline stores in key luxury markets such as Florence, Italy, the Beverly Center, Los Angeles and Aspen, Colorado; more concessions in prestige department stores in London, Milan, Dublin and Korea; and franchise stores in high potential markets including Russia and the Middle East.
Wholesale revenue from Emerging Markets, which include China, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil and India, increased by over 50% in the year, with strong double-digit comparable store sales growth in these franchised stores. Ten stores were opened during the year, including three in Russia, one in Saudi Arabia and a third store in Turkey. Burberry plans to open about 15-20 stores in conjunction with its franchisees in 2008/09, weighted towards the second half, in locations including South Africa and India.
Image: Burberry SS08