Burberry eyes Japan as EasyJet chief joins board
Fashion house Burberry has reported record sales and profit for 2013/14.
Reported pre-tax profit leapt 27 per cent to £444m, with revenue up 17 per cent to £2.3bn. Adjusted profit before tax rose eight per cent to £461m, ahead of estimates.
Further investment in Japan, enhanced beauty infrastructure and a smooth management transition – with Christopher Bailey taking over from long-time chief Angela Ahrendts on 1 May – have all contributed to its success this year, it said.
The company’s also announced that Carolynn McCall, chief executive of budget airline EasyJet, has joined its board as a non-executive director.
Burberry’s upped its full-year dividend by 10 per cent to 32p a share, as it moves towards a 50 per cent payout ratio over the coming three years.
The store's pushing forward with its retail space expansion, particularly in Japan which, it says, offers "significant" opportunities. It remains “mindful of macroeconomic uncertainties and currency headwinds”, so will "remain focused on things [it] can control". In terms of outlook, it said:
Burberry has increased retail/wholesale operating margin by about 200 basis points over the last three years.
Its goal to further improve margin remains unchanged, although this may be impacted in FY 2015 by continued planned investment in areas such as flagship markets, customer service, digital and people, in addition to potential FX headwinds.