Burberry has reported a fall in first-quarter like-for-likes as it suffered declines in all markets, but hailed growth of its digital business.
The luxury fashion retailer and brand said like-for-like sales dropped 3% during the three months to June 30, as revenues from its retail business remained flat on an underlying basis at £423m.
The trading update comes just two days after Burberry revealed it had poached Céline boss Marco Gobbetti as its new chief executive amid a restructure of its top team.
Boss Christopher Bailey, who will relinquish his role as chief executive but remain at the business as chief creative officer and president, has come under fire during a turbulent period for the firm across numerous international markets.
Burberry said all three of the regions it operates in – Europe, Asia and the Americas – suffered “a low single-digit” fall in same store sales during its first quarter.
However its UK division, which is Burberry’s largest in Europe, registered “mid-single-digit percentage comparable growth” after sales trends improved towards the end of the period.
Burberry said mainland Europe “remained depressed”, as markets including France and Italy suffered double-digit like-for-like declines.
The business also reported double-digit declines in the Americas, but insisted trade in Asia Pacific was “positive” when double-digit declines in Hong Kong and Macau were stripped out.
Burberry hailed the performance of its digital proposition, which it said “grew strongly in all regions.”
The “majority” of growth was delivered through mobile, with almost 60% of Burberry’s website traffic now coming from mobile devices.
Burberry said it remains “confident” of meeting financial expectations for its financial year and insisted its turnaround plan centred on key products, retail productivity, ecommerce and improved efficiency were “well underway.”
Chief executive and chief creative officer Bailey said: “In what remained a challenging external environment, underlying retail sales were flat in the first quarter.
“In this context, we continue to focus on managing our business with agility whilst implementing the ambitious evolution of our strategies and ways of working we outlined in May, to position Burberry for long-term growth. These plans are now well underway and on track to deliver our financial goals.
“This progress, together with our recent management appointments, gives us real confidence for the future.”
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