Fashion house Burberry on Thursday cheered a buzz surrounding new creative chief Riccardo Tisci which has seen goods in China sell out within hours, but stressed that revival efforts are at an early stage.
The FTSE 100 firm saw revenues in the six months to September 29 fall 2% to £1.2 billion. However, comparable retail sales were up 3%.
It said Tisci’s limited-edition “drops”, selling one-off items in flash sales, had performed strongly.
The trenchcoats maker added that the response to Tisci, who replaced Burberry veteran Christopher Bailey this year, “has been exceptional”. A drop of £290 t-shirts sold out in China within four hours.
Burberry also flagged sales growth in the UK and Italy, and said a number of Chinese tourists who previously shopped in Britain are now buying from its Hong Kong and Korean stores.
But performance in the Middle East was weak due to macroeconomic factors.
Pre-tax profits rose to £174.1 million from £128.3 million.
Boss Marco Gobbetti, who is planning an upmarket push, said “we are only in the first phase of our multi-year plan”.
