Member Article

Burberry warning dents luxury goods sector

In a relatively quiet day for economic news, one of the more amusing stories was a news headline that suggested Greece’s finances could be aided by sending a bill to Germany for war crimes committed during World War II. Greece’s finance ministry has given the four man working group until the end of the year to report back on the case, a development which will no doubt antagonise many of the tax payers in Northern Europe who are currently funding the Hellenic State.

Major stock news came from the FTSE 100 constituent Burberry, which today in effect announced a profit warning. The fashion retailer informed the market that sales growth at stores open for more than a year fell to zero in the 10 weeks to September, with particular fall coming in recent weeks. Whilst the group suggested this would result in full-year profit coming in at the lower end of previous guidance, it was a shock for a company that has traditionally delivered results at the top end or even above company guidance. The stock fell more than 20% by the close of trade, with ripples felt in luxury goods companies across the world with the French LVMH and Swiss group Richemont both falling around 5%.

The FSTE 100 once again finished pretty much flat on the day at 5792.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James .