14th Nov 2013 13:32
(An item published at 0736 GMT misstated the reasons for the profit moves in the headline and lede. The correct version follows:)
LONDON (Alliance News) - Burberry Group PLC Thursday reported higher profits and revenues for the first half of the year, boosted by strong sales of outerwear and leather goods.
The British luxury fashion house reported a pretax profit of GBP159.0 million in the six months to September 30, up sharply from GBP112 million a year earlier when it had booked a GBP73.8 million charge for terminated its fragrance and beauty license relationship and bring the beauty division in-house.
Excluding all one-off charges, pretax profit was GBP174 million, marginally up from GBP173 million last year, but more than Burberry had previously guided. It had previously said it expected adjusted pretax profit to be down on the year in the first half.
Burberry increased its interim dividend by 10% to 8.8 pence, as first-half revenues rose 17% to GBP1.03 billion, driven by strong worldwide demand for its luxury coats, accessories and fragrances.
Burberry said its online business outperformed in all regions, and for its stores, flagship markets performed well, driven by traveling luxury customers.
It said that its opened 14 mainline stores during the first half, mainly in high potential markets.
Burberry shares fell sharply last month after it was revealed that Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey will take over from current Chief Executive Officer Angela Ahrendts when she steps down to take up a new role at technology giant Apple in the middle of next year.
The group said it held net cash of GBP208 million at September 30, down from GBP237 million.
Shares in Burberry were up 1.7% Thursday afternoon, at 1,487.00 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
Copyright © 2013 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Burberry