Burberry to target shoes and purses as recovery takes hold
BURBERRY is targeting growth in non-clothing ranges like shoes and purses in the economic recovery, the luxury goods group said yesterday, as it posted a smaller-than-forecast fall in first-half profit.
Profit for the six months to the end of September fell 24 per cent to £56.8m from £74.8m a year ago.
The 153-year-old group, sketching out its plans for the next three years, said it wants to boost its presence in China and the Americas and attract younger shoppers via social media such as its recently launched web site www.artofthetrench.com.
“While the last year or so has presented us as a management team with the most challenging conditions we’ve ever had to work through, we have been equally focused on how best to position Burberry for superior growth when the global economy recovers,” chief executive Angela Ahrendts told analysts.
Luxury goods firms have been hard hit by the crisis. Burberry would not say if the recovery was firmly underway but said it was outperforming rivals and was confident its trench coats and handbags, as well as leather goods, scarves and snoods would sell well this Christmas.