UK-based luxury fashion house Burberry Group has reported a retail revenue of £458 million (approximately $594.84 million) in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (Q1 FY25), a significant 22 per cent decrease compared to Q1 FY24. The company saw comparable store sales drop by 21 per cent, with all regions except Japan experiencing declines.

In the Asia Pacific region, sales decreased by 23 per cent. Mainland China reported a 21 per cent drop, South Asia Pacific saw a significant 38 per cent decline, and South Korea fell by 26 per cent. Japan, however, bucked the trend with a 6 per cent increase, driven by robust tourism spending, particularly from Chinese and other nearby Asian tourists, despite a soft local market. Globally, the Chinese customer group showed resilience, performing better than Mainland China as spending was diverted offshore, the company said in its first quarter trading update.

The Americas region experienced a 23 per cent decline, primarily due to decreased spending by local customers. The performance of the Americas customer group globally was consistent with the regional trend.

In the Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa (EMEIA) region, sales fell by 16 per cent, with local spending deteriorating compared to the previous quarter. Tourist spending accounted for just over half of retail revenues but saw a high single-digit percentage decline.

Despite these challenges, certain product categories continued to perform well. Outerwear and scarves outperformed globally.

“Our Q1 FY25 performance is disappointing. We moved quickly with our creative transition in a luxury market that is proving more challenging than expected. The weakness we highlighted coming into FY25 has deepened and if the current trend persists through our Q2, we expect to report an operating loss for our first half,” said Gerry Murphy, chair of Burberry.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)