Burberry, the 166-year-old British luxury brand, said its outlook for the year ahead depended on how quickly China recovered from COVID curbs, after meeting expectations for sales and operating profit for its 2022 financial year ended April 2.
China has been the biggest market for the company.
According to the chief financial officer Julie Brown, sales in China accounts for the lion’s share of 30 percent of the turnover last year, fell 13 percent in the last quarter.
“Currently, about 40 percent of Burberry’s business in the country was affected by lockdown measures,” Brown was quoted as saying.
Burberry said its medium-term outlook depended on the impact of Covid-19 and rate of recovery in consumer spending in China.
Based on the past, China’s track record was a good omen. “The good news is when you look at what happened in the first wave, the recovery is very quick and very pronounced,” Brown said.
Burberry reported a 23 percent rise in revenue to 2.83 billion pounds, with comparable store sales in its final quarter growing 7 percent after lockdowns in mainland China weighed on its performance in March.
