China Drives Burberry First-quarter Sales Jump

A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
TT

China Drives Burberry First-quarter Sales Jump

A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
A person walks past a Burberry store undergoing refurbishment on New Bond Street in London, Britain, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

British luxury fashion brand Burberry on Friday reported an 18% rise in its first-quarter comparable store sales, in line with market expectations thank to continued recovery in China.
Sales in mainland China, its biggest market, were up 46% in the 13 weeks to July 1, reflecting the country's emergence from COVID-19 lockdowns last year, Reuters said.
The FTSE 100 group's trading statement said that sales in Europe rose 17% but the Americas remained a weak spot, with quarterly sales down 8%, broadly in line with the previous quarter.
CEO Jonathan Akeroyd said outerwear and leather goods were performing well and he was excited about new products from designer Daniel Lee arriving in stores in September.
Lee, who joined in September, unveiled his debut collection at London Fashion Week in February.
Like-for-like leather goods sales increased 13%, with women's bags, especially the Frances shapes and vintage Burberry check performing well, the company said.
The 167-year-old business, known for its trench coats, reiterated its guidance for the 2024 financial year of low double-digit revenue growth.



UK's JD Sports Confident on Forecasts after First-half Beat

A logo is seen outside the newly renovated JD Sports store at Westfield Stratford City in London, Britain, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
A logo is seen outside the newly renovated JD Sports store at Westfield Stratford City in London, Britain, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
TT

UK's JD Sports Confident on Forecasts after First-half Beat

A logo is seen outside the newly renovated JD Sports store at Westfield Stratford City in London, Britain, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo
A logo is seen outside the newly renovated JD Sports store at Westfield Stratford City in London, Britain, July 30, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo

British sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion beat a consensus forecast for first-half profit and said it was on track to meet annual guidance, showing its multi-brand strategy working at a time when Nike is struggling.
The FTSE 100-listed group, which sells Nike, Adidas, On, HOKA and other brands in Britain, Europe and the United States, said on Wednesday it would meet targets, despite what it called a competitive and promotional marketplace.
Nike on Tuesday posted disappointing quarterly sales growth and
warned
its holiday season would likely to be filled with discounts.
For the 26 weeks to Aug. 3, JD Sports posted adjusted pretax profit of 405.6 million pounds ($538.35 million), ahead of analyst expectations of 384 million pounds.
"Our success is a direct reflection of the strength and agility of our global, multi-brand strategy, which allows us to adapt swiftly to fast-changing industry trends across the world," Reuters quoted Chief Executive Regis Schultz as saying in a statement.
The group also reiterated its guidance for annual profit of between 955 million pounds and 1.035 billion pounds.