LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - The rate of sales decline at Burberry eased significantly in the luxury fashion brand's third quarter as recent actions to turn the business around started to bear fruit.
Retail revenues were down just 7% year-on-year in the three months to 28 December at £659m, following a 22% sales slump in the first half. Comparable store sales fell by just 4% in the third quarter, compared with a 20% drop in the first half.

Comparable store sales in Asia Pacific and the EMEIA region fell by 9% and 2%, a stark contrast to the declines of 25% and 13% in the first half, respectively. Meanwhile, comparable store sales growth turned positive at 2% in the Americas regions, following a 21% decrease in the first half.

Burberry said it was "encouraged by the response from customers and partners over the festive period", which it attributed to the 'Burberry Forward' brand reset initiated in November, which included refocusing products around recognisable brand signifiers, core categories and better pricing in a luxury context.

"Since launching Burberry Forward in November, we have moved at pace to advance our strategy to reignite brand desire, improve our performance and drive long-term value creation," said chief executive Joshua Schulman.

Looking ahead, following the improved momentum seen in the third quarter, Burberry said it is now more likely that second-half results will "broadly offset the first-half adjusted operating loss".

At the time of its interim results in November, the company had said it was too early to tell whether the second half would fully offset the first half on a bottom-line basis.

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