Burberry has announced its Q3 highlights for the three months ended December 31 2012, naming its Britain watch as a timepiece that continues to work wonders for the brand within the global watch market.
Burberry’s total revenue hit £613m in Q3, up 9% from the same period last year, with retail revenue totalling £464m. Same-store sales increased 6% with scarves and men’s accessories up 40%.
Burberry continues to grow its licensing revenue, which totalled £29m in Q3. It stated that the "innovative" global launch of its Britain watch range – which includes both quartz and automatic models – helped to bolster interest its watches, with The Britain watch design successfully realigning Burberry’s timepiece collection on a global scale.
Angela Ahrendts, chief executive officer, said: “Burberry delivered 13% underlying retail growth in the third quarter, benefiting from a particularly strong week in the run up to Christmas. In an otherwise difficult quarter, core outerwear, men’s and digital all outperformed. We expect the external global environment to remain challenging, but see continued opportunities to drive productivity in our existing business, while investing for growth in under-penetrated regions, product categories, channels and mediums.”
By region, Asia Pacific, led by Hong Kong and China, and emerging markets exhibited double-digit comparable store sales growth, with low single-digit growth in Americas and Europe broadly unchanged. Korea and Italy remained weak markets for the brand.
