Burberry news and facts history
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Burberry is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing and fashion accessories. Thomas Burberry founded Burberry in 1856.
Burberry manufacturs clothing and fashion accessories. Its plaid pattern is one of its most widely copied trademarks. The company has branded stores and franchises global and sells through concessions in third-party stores.
Click here for the list of related news items, published by FashionUnited in the fashion news archive.
Burberry thanks Facebook fans
To say thanks to all Facebook fans, Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey designed a special note.
November 2010
Encouraging profit results meet market hopes
After such an intense but full of hopes day, the FashionUnited Top 100 could not more than keeping its growth path. Always in thick of things, the index closed yesterday in 1,208.74, after rising by 6.42 in the state of the international economy.
Teen apparel craze, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. on Tuesday reported a 29% increase in profit for the third quarter, which was also better than market estimates, reflecting an 18% increase in net sales. Comparable sales, or sales from stores open for at least one year, increased 7%. Their polemical strategy of hiring models to welcome customers is definitely working with a net income for the third quarter was $50.04 million or $0.56 per share, up from $38.78 million or $0.44 per share in the year-ago quarter. Just one day after presenting its quarterly figures, the big department stores Saks dropped by 4.12%, becoming one of the worst values on Wednesday.
Back to the former metropolis, Angela Ahrendts, Chief Executive Officer for Burberry Group, commented: “The Burberry team delivered a strong first half, with adjusted revenue up 21% and profit before tax up nearly 50%. The continued focus on the brand, ongoing investment in our digital, IT and retail infrastructure, especially in China, and a disciplined approach to driving growth underpin our confidence in delivering long-term sustainable returns.” However, this announcement turned into a loss of 10.5 points in the stocks market.
Also it came time to Ted Baker to publish its interim management statement, colored with 20.7% increase in Group revenue for the 13 week period from 15 August 2010 to 13 November 2010 , compared to the same period last year, with gross margins in line with expectations. Retail sales for the period were 8.6% above the same period last year and average retail square footage rose by 6.9% over the period to 221,443 sq.ft. (2009: 207,150 sq.ft.). Trading in the UK has continued to perform well and the improved trend in our overseas markets, as reported at the time of our interim results, has continued, albeit against stronger sales comparatives in the second half of the financial year. As previously announced, we launched our US transactional website in October and will be opening two new stores in the US at the end of this month in Chicago and New York.
Quoting Reuters, British fashion group French Connection sees profit at high end of hopes as their forecast for the year profit at the high end of current market expectations after its wholesale business showed an improved performance in its latest trading period. The firm said on Tuesday the business as a whole had performed in line with internal expectations in the 15 weeks to Nov. 13, its fiscal third quarter.It said slightly lower than expected retail revenue was more than offset by growth in wholesale revenue, gains in gross margin and overhead savings. This forecasts have little to do with the investors behaviour up to date, as FCUK lost nearly 5% of its value yesterday.
Last but not least, Benetton Group net revenues for the first nine months of 2010, characterised by continuing economic uncertainty in the most important markets for our brands, reached €1,498 million (+0.5% over the comparative period, equivalent to €7 million), due to the impact of commercial policies implemented to support the sales network, and as a result of the revaluation against the euro of the currencies of some emerging countries, totalling €29 million (Korean won, Indian rupee, Turkish lira and the yen). Apparel segment revenues were €1,418 million, up by €5 million (0.3%) compared with the first nine months of 2009. Textile segment revenues were €80 million compared with €78 million in the comparative period (+2.6%).
November 2010
New marketing manager at Burberry
British heritage brand Burberry appointed Sarah Manley to Chief Marketing Officer to head up the chain’s marketing strategy. Manley previously looked after all communications aspects across traditional and new media.
Looking after Burberry’s social media site The Art of the Trench, and an interactive ad campaign that uses 3D technology to create motion-responsive images and video, Manley was also responsible for developing a global marketing infrastructure. This included the companies four key regions to drive the brand’s marketing and communication strategy around the world.
Burberry is headquarted in London, and founded it 1856. The company features 164 retail stores, 171 concessions (excluding Spain), 45 outlets and 55 franchise stores.
November 2010
Speculations on Burberry heighten markets
Wednesday’s FashionUnited Top100 Index rose by 2.5 to 1150.79 points, closely followed by the main index in China, which closed at 1,117.91. In USA, Dow Jones reached the 1078.80 height.
Quintessentially British house Burberry Group is speculated to be taken over by a private equity group and rumors have turned into late shares acquisition movements by minor stakeholders. This bonanza lasted just a few days, until yesterday when Citigroup poured cold water over the British label managers assuring that their recent sales success is based on unfounded investor interest. “We do not see much strategic and financial rationale for private equity money to enter so late in Burberry's transformation story”, Citigroup tells the Financial Times. “Likewise, we struggle to find strategic rationale for [French luxury goods group] PPR and LVMH to add another soft luxury brand to their portfolio”, added.
Also in Great Britain, M&S recovered the points they lost from Monday, when their new boss effectively took over the post. The family founded retailer gained 1.4 points by the end of the trading day.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Children's apparel retailer Gymboree has hired Goldman Sachs to begin a formal auction of the company that is expected to fetch more than $1 billion, according to the New York Post. The seek for a new main partner who brings financial aid has been shaking the market for the whole summer, affecting not only the Gymboree’s stocks, but also its principal competitor, Chico’s. It also counted for The Children’s Place Retail, which noted a drop of 2.47% yesterday.
In the meanwhile and after months of speculations and quotes juggling, American Apparel's lenders at Lion Capital have agreed to alter the terms of their agreement with the retailer so that they do not have to file bankruptcy. Lion Capital partner Lyndon Lea remains upbeat about investing in a company that's had such highly public difficulty paying off its debts. “Lion Capital has enormous admiration for both American Apparel and its founder, Dov Charney”, resumed Lea, who also unveiled that “we are working together with Dov to realign the capital structure of American Apparel to support a number of key initiatives within the business, including the hiring of several new senior executives”. In the meanwhile, American Apparel CEO Charney continues to defend his position, taking the fact of their stocks rose lightly on Friday thanks to this deal.
However, not everything is solved for the dance-inspired clothing brand, as they must turn a pre-tax profit of $20 million over the 12 months ending January 31, and by September 2013 must rake in $80 million. Other American value suffering yesterday was Fossil. The accessories brand lost 1.04 points as opposed to the majority of US based companies gathered within the FashionUnited Top 100 that slowly moved up and down but not overcoming the 0.5 points variation.
Finally, Asian stocks rose sharply after the Bank of Japan's easing moves spurred hopes of a new round of global central bank action.
October 2010
Burberry buys Chinese stores
Burberry has bought 50 of its Chinese franchised stores in a deal worth 70 million pounds. Control of its franchising may add as much as 20 million pounds to operating profit in the year through March 2012, the Pimlico-based company said. “Financially, the deal is excellent,” Dennis Weber, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London, said in a note. Earnings per share may be enhanced by about 6 percent in fiscal 2012, said Weber, who has a “neutral” rating on the stock.
Luxury companies are seeking to tap growth potential in China, where the number of millionaires soared 31 percent last year, according to research by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co. The country’s luxury goods market will be worth $14.6 billion in five years, making it the world’s largest, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in May.
Burberry rose 9 pence, or 1.1 percent, to close at 799.5 pence as of 4:30 p.m. in London trading. The shares have gained about 33 percent this year, giving the company a market value of about 3.5 billion pounds.
“This is a very attractive deal from a strategic and financial perspective, giving us control in a key growth luxury market,” Chief Executive Officer Angela Ahrendts said on a conference call. “We can see clear opportunities to further increase sales and profits.”
Retail sales in the Chinese stores, which were previously reported as wholesale revenue, totaled 75 million pounds in the year through December 2009, generating profit of about 14 million pounds for the local franchisees, Burberry said. Had Burberry owned the stores in the financial year ended March 2010, retail revenue would have represented 63 percent of total sales, up from 58 percent without them, Ahrendts said.
Under the new agreement, Burberry will take over the outlets’ operational management, while existing franchisees will hold a 15 percent stake in their business, the company said. Burberry, which currently has 13 directly operated stores in Hong Kong, one in Macau and 19 in Taiwan, plans to open 10 more units in China this year, Ahrendts said.
Image: Burberry Fall 10 campaign
Click here for an explanation of CEO Angela Ahrendt.
July 2010
Burberry's stellar year 2009
Burberry has announced stellar annual figures, citing £1,280 million profit in the last year compared to £1,202 million in 2009, an increase of 7 per cent. The brand's retail sector also delivered well with a 19 per cent rise in revenue.
"The period 2009 - 2010 was a great year for Burberry - we delivered record profits in what was a challenging economic climate thanks to a truly gifted team," said Burberry ceo Angela Ahrendts who was recently pictured with Christopher Bailey at Testino's exhibition launch. "The success of Burberry is built not only on product and marketing excellence but on operational excellence too. Together these set us apart this year."
Burberry credits its successful year to its numerous consumer-broadening strategies including the label's return to London Fashion Week, a move which led to extensive editorial coverage, as well as allowing its customers to become closer to the brand. The label's pioneering digital efforts are also thought to have credited the profit rise, with the introduction of live show streaming and new social media websites. The brand has also focused on emerging markets such as China, India and the Middle East with numerous store openings.
Januari 2010