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Burberry Group, the U.K. luxury house seeking a new leader, reported a surge in sales as the easing of pandemic-related restrictions brought shoppers back to stores.
Comparable retail sales jumped 90% in the three months through June from a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement on Friday. That beat the 77% average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Burberry, like rival purveyors of luxury goods, suffered in the first half of last year as countries around the world imposed lockdowns to curb the coronavirus. Restrictions have eased this year, notably in Asia, a crucial market for the luxury industry.
Burberry said it benefited from strong demand by younger customers in key categories such as leather goods and outerwear. The company said it’s also seeing full-price sales growth accelerating.
Under Chief Executive Officer Marco Gobbetti, who last month announced plans to leave at the end of the year, Burberry has striven to make its trenchcoats and handbags more exclusive with fewer markdowns and fewer sales through third-party outlets.
Burberry is also developing its leather goods offering, a crucial category that’s shown resilience during the pandemic at rival brands Louis Vuitton and Hermes. During the last quarter, Burberry launched the Olympia bag which was promoted by star influencer Kendall Jenner as well as musician FKA Twigs.
Burberry’s strategy, which had begun to yield results, has been thrown into question by Gobbetti’s decision to decamp to Italy’s Salvatore Ferragamo SpA, itself seeking a turnaround. Speculation has also arisen on whether Riccardo Tisci, Burberry’s creative director and a long-time collaborator of Gobbetti’s, will follow him.
