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Burberry has announced that retail revenue for 13 weeks ended 26 December dropped 4% to £688m from £719m for the same period last year, attributed to the continued impact of Covid-19.
Covid-19 related store closures averaged 7% in Q3 impacting trading on a whole for the retail group.
Comparable store sales declined 9%, which the group claimed was due to “planned reductions” in markdown and “reduced tourist traffic” in outlets which offset high single-digit full-price sales growth.
The retailer currently has 15% of its stores closed and 36% operating with reduced hours or restrictions and an uncertain trajectory given the spread of the more transmissible new variants of Covid-19. Given this outlook, the company said it expects trading to remain “susceptible to regional disruptions”.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEIA) comparable store sales fell by 37% as lower tourist demand continued to be affected by Covid-19. In addition, the region saw the biggest swing in store closures moving from 5% of stores closed in Q2 to an average 19% in Q3 FY2021.
Marco Gobbetti, CEO for Burberry, said: “Despite the challenging external environment, we made good progress on our strategic priorities in the quarter. We saw a strong increase in full-price sales as our collections and communication resonated well with new, younger clientele as well as existing customers.
“Our localised plans and digital capabilities helped drive growth in rebounding markets and we implemented our planned reduction in markdown. While the short-term outlook remains uncertain due to Covid-19, we are well placed to accelerate when the pandemic eases.”
