Burberry beats retail sales and revenue forecasts

Burberry Group PLC reported Thursday a significant reduction in pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2021, noting that comparable retail sales improved in the second quarter, boosted by a strong performance in the Asia-Pacific region.

The British luxury-goods company posted a pretax profit for the six months ended Sept. 30 of 73 million pounds ($96.5 million) compared with GBP193 million for the year-earlier period.

The FTSE-100 listed company’s revenue fell to GBP877.7 million from GBP1.28 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Burberry was expected to report revenues for the six months ended Sept. 30 of GBP849 million, according to 14 estimates compiled by the company.

Comparable retail sales fell 25% in the first half, falling 6% in the second quarter of the period. This was a significant improvement when compared with the 45% decline reported in the first quarter of the financial year.

The company’s comparable retail sales were expected to decline 29% year-on-year, taken from 14 forecasts compiled by the company. They rose 4% in the first half of fiscal 2020. For the second quarter of fiscal 2021, comparable retail sales were expected to decline 12%, according to these estimates, compared with a 5% rise in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

Sabela Ojea

source:marketwatch.com