Burberry keeps momentum from China despite trade war fears

Fashion house Burberry bucked current concerns over a trade war between China and the US today, as Asian demand for its luxury clothing held up over the festive shopping season.

The blue-chip firm, which has been embarking on a major turnaround plan to revive its fortunes for more than a year, said that comparable store sales climbed by one per cent in the 13 weeks to the end of November as appetite from mainland China continued unabated.

Resilience in Burberry’s Chinese markets comes in spite of evidence of a slowdown from some of its luxury retail peers, such as Prada and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Read more: Shares in Burberry fall as Chinese appetite for luxury goods slows

However, shares in the retailer dipped almost two per cent in early morning trading as weaker footfall in the Americas led to a one per cent dip in overall retail revenue, which fell to £711m in the third quarter from £719m in the same period in the previous year.

Late last year Burberry posted a sales dip in its first trading update under chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci, who took the reigns from the retailer’s long-serving head designer Christopher Bailey amid a slowdown in growth.

However, the retailer also posted a surge in profits, and said that growth in the UK remained resilient despite fears of weaker consumer demand and less spending from tourists.

The company, which is in its early stages of a major strategic overhaul, also struck an upbeat tone today over the “continued customer excellent” ahead of a debut collection from Tisci that is coming out next month.