Burberry profits slump by 40% as demand for luxury goods slows

British fashion retailer hit by drop in sales in Asia and Americas, and expects challenging first half of 2025

Burberry’s profits have slumped by 40% in a year amid a wider slowdown in demand for luxury goods that has pushed down sales in Asia and the Americas.

The high-end UK fashion retailer posted a pre-tax profit of £383m for the year up to 30 March in its preliminary results on Wednesday, a 40% drop on the £634m in the previous 12 months. Global sales fell by 8% in the second half of the year.

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Burberry issues profit warning as Christmas shoppers shun pricey trenchcoats

British brand affected by continued slowdown in luxury demand during cost of living crisis

Burberry has warned that annual profits will be sharply lower than previously expected after consumers left its expensive trenchcoats, bags and scarves off their Christmas shopping lists.

The luxury British brand said trading had been affected by a continued slowdown in luxury demand after rises in the cost of living and increases to interest rates globally.

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Burberry shows off killer trenchcoat and blue strawberries at London show

Prints symbolising British summertime appear on fashion week catwalk alongside modernised version of brand’s staple product

The scene before the biggest show of London fashion week was quintessentially British: an orderly queue for tea, coffee and eccles cake. Britishness, along with trenchcoats and checked scarves, is what Burberry stands for. This is surely the only catwalk show where Hollywood action hero Jason Statham, acclaimed choreographer Wayne MacGregor and Arsenal striker Bukayo Saka can be found rubbing shoulders in the front row.

The first look on to the catwalk was a trenchcoat. The trench is a Burberry staple – but this had a notably slimmer cut, an elegant dropped-waist silhouette, and was black rather than beige. There were more trenchcoats to follow: some sleeveless, some leather, all of them sleek and minimal.

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Rush for bags and scarves helps Burberry offset China Covid slump

British luxury goods firm reports 1% increase in global sales in last quarter of 2022

Burberry offset a plunge in Chinese sales of more than a fifth amid Covid disruption, thanks to the return of tourists to Europe who snapped up bags, scarves and trenchcoats in the run-up to Christmas.

The British luxury goods firm reported a 1% increase in global sales in the three months to the end of December, below its 2% target and sharply down compared with the 11% growth reported in the previous quarter.

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Burberry sales fall 35% in China on back of Covid lockdowns

Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat give luxury fashion retailer boost elsewhere

Burberry has reported sales growth of only 1% in its latest financial quarter because of the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China, while sales were boosted elsewhere by its Lola handbag range and signature trenchcoat.

The luxury fashion retailer said sales fell 35% in mainland China because of restrictions and store closures to contain the latest outbreak of the coronavirus, while sales grew 16% across the rest of the world in the 13 weeks to 2 July.

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End of partnership that kept Burberry at the leading cultural edge

Analysis: Could Marco Gobbetti be followed out of British luxury brand by creative director Riccardo Tisci?

The departure of Marco Gobbetti as chief executive of Burberry raises the key question of whether Riccardo Tisci, whom Gobbetti appointed creative director soon after he joined, will remain at the luxury fashion brand.

A desire to be closer to his family in Italy was given as the reason behind Gobbetti’s decision to quit Burberry, and Tisci too is thought to have found it difficult to be away from family in Italy for prolonged periods during the pandemic. The designer was a fashion student in London in his teens and has a deep affection for British culture and subculture, but the pull of his homeland remains strong. Italy has many deep-pocketed luxury brands and a shortage of exciting design talent, so opportunities are likely to present themselves.

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‘It was insensitive’: Burberry apologises for ‘noose’ hoodie after model complains

Liz Kennedy said the design at London Fashion Week evoked lynchings and suicide

The chief executive and chief creative officer of luxury fashion brand Burberry have apologised for putting a hoodie with strings tied in the shape of a noose on its London Fashion Week runway.

The knotted strings surfaced after Sunday’s show when a model complained both before the show and on Instagram, saying the noose not only evoked lynchings but also suicide.

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Why it absolutely matters what Angela Ahrendts wore on stage…

Even if you missed Apple's big iPhone unveiling this past Tuesday, you may have seen the photo: Angela Ahrendts, Apple's retail boss, on stage wearing black-framed glasses, a white v-neck t-shirt, and a pale pink lace trench coat. The coat - made by the company Ahrendts used to run, Burberry - caused an immediate reaction.