British luxury fashion brand Burberry has announced its comparable store sales have increased across most of its global regions including the Middle East, lifting retail revenue in the first quarter of its financial year.
In the 13 weeks that ended on July 1, the sales of London-based fashion rose by 17 per cent in the Middle East, Africa, India and Europe.
The company said in a statement: “During the quarter, we continued to invest in brand and product, with our new visual expression of Burberry driving the strong performance of outerwear, in particular heritage rainwear. Comparable store sales of leather goods also delivered double-digit growth, with women’s bags, especially the Frances shapes and vintage Burberry Check line performing well. We look forward to building on this when [CEO] Daniel Lee’s debut runway collection launches in stores in September.”
Burberry has an established presence in the Gulf region with major outlets in the UAE, including at Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. Its Saudi Arabia stores are located in Riyadh and Jeddah.
First-quarter group retail revenue stood at £589 million, up 17 per cent from £505 million a year earlier and up 19 per cent at constant exchange rates.
Burberry said its core categories of outerwear and leather goods performed well. Outerwear comparable store sales shot up by 36 per cent, led by heritage rainwear, while leather goods comparable store sales increased by 13 per cent.
Looking ahead, the brand maintained its current year guidance of high single-digit revenue compound annual growth rate from a financial 2020 base. This equates to low double-digit growth in its current financial 2024 and around 20 per cent of adjusted operating margin at financial 2020 constant exchange rates.
Burberry expects a currency headwind of around £150 million to revenue and around £70 million to adjusted operating profit, based on forex rates on June 29.
As per a Mordon Intelligence report, the Middle East and Africa luxury goods market size is expected to grow from $13.23 billion in 2023 to $17.90 billion by 2028, at a compound annual growth rate of 6.23 per cent during the forecast period (2023-2028).
In GCC countries, more than half of the consumers claim to have increased their spending on luxury goods.
