Yahoo Finance Burberry hails response to new designer Riccardo Tisci
British fashion house Burberry has hailed an “exceptional” response to the designs introduced by new creative boss Riccardo Tisci, in spite of falling revenues in the first half of its financial year.
Revenues fell by 3% to £1.22bn for the 26 weeks ending on 29 September compared with the same period last year, the company said.
The London-headquartered company reported significantly higher profits for the half year, although these were boosted by foreign exchange effects thanks to its global sales footprint. Its adjusted measure of profits, which aims to show the underlying performance of the business, fell by 4% to £180m.
Marco Gobbetti, Burberry’s chief executive, gave an upbeat message to investors, hailing the efforts of new designer Tisci as well as the firm’s performance on Instagram and on WeChat, one of the leading social media platforms in the key Chinese market.
Gobbetti said: “We are energised by the early results as we begin to transform and reposition Burberry. The initial response from influencers, press, buyers and customers to our new creative vision and Riccardo’s debut collection Kingdom has been exceptional.”
However, he added that the company is “only in the first phase of our multi-year plan” as it tries to reposition its brand.
Burberry is trying to regain momentum after the departure last year of Christopher Bailey, the former chief executive and creative director who was credited with transforming the venerable fashion house into a global brand.
Tisci unveiled the first new Burberry logo for 20 years in August as he tried to make his mark on the brand ahead of his debut collection at London fashion week.
The collection enjoyed a positive response from wholesale fashion buyers, and garnered the second-most views of shows featured on theVogue website, Burberry said.
As part of the revamp Burberry in September ended the practice of burning clothes it could not sell at full price. In 2017 it destroyed £28.6m worth of unsold products to prevent the clothes from being sold at cheaper prices.
The latest collection also did not contain any real fur, after criticisms from animal rights campaigners.
Burberry shares closed up 2.7% at £18.65.
