Burberry full-year profits rocket

Revenue rose 24% to £1.86bn in the year to March 31 while adjusted profit before tax rose 26% during the period to £376m.

Underlying retail revenue grew by 31%, with the brand and retailer opening 23 mainline stores during the year.

The British luxury brand revealed it is to launch its first menswear-only store in London.

Burberry highlighted menswear as “a significant growth opportunity” and said new initiatives such as tailoring, range intensification, retail merchandising and increased men’s only marketing all contributed to the performance with menswear sales growing by 26%.

Chief executive officer Angela Ahrendts revealed that a menswear only store would open next to its current store in Knightsbridge later this year. She said the store, which will open in the autumn, could be “the beginning of a brilliant new concept”.

All regions saw double digit growth during the year with Asia Pacific the largest region contributing 37% of retail and wholesale revenue. Burberry said flagship markets in the UK and France performed well.

Sales across all product divisions rose by double digits with non-apparel the largest division, making up 39% of retail and wholesale revenue.

Ahrendts said: “While we remain vigilant about the external environment, we will continue to invest in front-end opportunities within our brand, digital and retail strategies, to drive sustained, profitable growth and enduring customer engagement over the long term.”

For the financial year ahead Burberry said its capital expenditure is planned to be between £180m to £200m with plans to grow retail space by between 12 to 14%. The brand will focus on larger format stores in flagship markets such as London, Chicago and Hong Kong.

Burberry is set to launch its biggest ever store on London’s Regent Street later this year. Although the brand has refused to give an exact sate Ahrendts said the store would open in late summer or early autumn. She added it would be “the most digitally advanced store in the world,” but declined to give further details.

There were reports earlier this week that Burberry was pushing to open the store before the Olympics but Ahrendts denied this.

She said: “We found with Beijing that the tourists coming over aren’t particularly going to be looking to buy luxury goods.”