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Published
May 21, 2014
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Burberry profit rises as new boss takes helm

By
Reuters
Published
May 21, 2014

LONDON, United Kingdom - British luxury brand Burberry met forecasts with an 8 percent rise in annual profit, though it reiterated that if foreign exchange rates remain at current levels there will be a material impact on 2014-15 profit.

The results are the first since Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Bailey officially succeeded Apple bound Angela Ahrendts on May 1, though his appointment was announced in October.

Christopher Bailey | Source: AFP


The 158-year-old firm, known for its camel, red and black check pattern, said on Wednesday it made adjusted pre-tax profit of 461 million pounds in the year to March 31 - bang in line with analysts' consensus forecast, on revenue up 17 percent to 2.33 billion pounds.

Burberry, which ended the year with net cash of 403 million pounds, raised its full year dividend 10 percent to 32 pence and said it was confident of driving sustainable future growth.

But the firm again flagged the potential impact of foreign exchange movements on the translation of profit into sterling.

As an indication of the potential hit it said rebasing 2013-14 retail/wholesale profit for current exchange rates would have reduced reported profit by about 40 million pounds and adjusted operating margin from 17.5 percent to around 16.3 percent.

Burberry said at current exchange rates reported licensing revenue in 2014-2015 would be reduced by about 10 million pounds given the movement in the sterling/yen rate.

The firm said net new space was expected to contribute low to mid single-digit percentage growth to total retail revenue in 2014-15, while excluding beauty it expects wholesale revenue at constant exchange rates to be broadly unchanged in its first half.

For beauty, wholesale revenue is expected to grow by about 25 percent at constant exchange rates in 2014-15.

In licensing the firm expects broadly unchanged revenue at constant exchange rates from both Japan and global product licences.

Despite some investors fretting over Bailey’s dual role, shares in Burberry are up 2 percent over the last six months.

They closed Tuesday at 1,515 pence, valuing the business at 6.7 billion pounds.

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