Burberry has returned to profit, reporting £19m in pre-tax earnings for the six months to 26 September after a £48m loss a year earlier. Sales rose 6% to £1.1bn. For a luxury group operating in a cautious market, that is a material half-year improvement.
The company attributed the result to its return to core products, including coats, jackets and handbags, alongside stronger online and wholesale sales. Chief executive Joshua Schulman said Burberry’s pricing range was also helping: cotton-cashmere socks cost £85, scarves start at £195, while some leather bags and coats cost more than £9,000.
That range is not democratic in an everyday consumer sense. But Burberry is making a specific value-for-money argument within luxury, and its latest figures give that argument some commercial weight. Schulman said the approach was resonating particularly with Chinese customers.
The regional breakdown sets the limit of that claim. Burberry reported sales growth of 15% in China and 14% in the Americas, while sales in Europe and the Middle East fell 1%. The company partly linked the decline in that region to the Iran war. The figures show that growth was uneven, even as total sales rose.
Burberry’s profit return is therefore more than a marketing line: it is a reported improvement in sales and earnings. Yet the available half-year figures do not show which products drove regional demand, nor do they isolate the effects of costs, inventory, currency movements, cash flow or one-off items on profit.
The stronger conclusion is narrower than a completed-turnaround narrative. Burberry has produced a meaningful half-year improvement while presenting a wider price range as part of its strategy. Whether that approach can sustain growth beyond the markets currently lifting the result will depend on later performance.
Sources
- The Guardian · UK · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12