Burberry on Thursday outlined plans to raise cost-savings targets and roll out more of star designer Riccardo Tisci’s collections, as the fashion firm looks to improve on lacklustre sales.
The FTSE 100 trenchcoats maker saw revenue slip 1% to £2.7 billion in the year to March 30.
It reported higher UK sales but had only “low-single-digit” percentage growth in China. That contrasts with rivals such as Hermès, which recently reported strong demand there.
Operating profits were down 6% and the shares lost 86.5p to 1835p.
The luxury goods firm was upbeat about longer term growth. It will close 38 shops not close enough to high-spending shoppers, and it increased its guidance for cost savings to £135 million by 2022 from £120 million after beating its target last year.
It also today announced a £150 million share buyback.
In addition, Burberry boss Marco Gobbetti said customer reaction to new creative chief Tisci’s debut collection, which went on sale in late February, “is very encouraging”.
Gobbetti added: “We made excellent progress in the first year of our plan to transform Burberry, while at the same time delivering financial performance in line with expectations.”
