Luxury brand Burberry today posted a 14% rise in total first half revenue though it cautioned the external environment was becoming more difficult, partly offsetting reduced currency headwinds.
The 158-year-old brand is best known for its camel, red and black check pattern.
It said it made revenue of £1.1 billion in the six months to September 30, reflecting a strong performance across all regions and continued digital growth.
The outcome was driven by retail sales growing 15% to £748m - in line with analysts' average forecast - with comparable sales growth of 10%. It said its wholesale revenue rose 13% to £317m.
However, for its second half of its fiscal year, Burberry said it expects wholesale revenue at constant exchange rates to be down by a"mid single-digit percentage".
That reflects a more cautious approach from customers selling to the European consumer and in Asian travel retail markets.
The luxury goods industry is currently facing a testing time, with the Ukraine crisis hitting demand in Russia and anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong adding to concerns about a slowdown in China.
A government crackdown on corrupt gift giving in China has hurt luxury goods sales.
Burberry said that if exchange rates remain at current levels, the full impact on reported retail/wholesale profit in the 2014-2015 year will still be material.
As an indication, it said rebasing 2013-2014 retail/wholesale profit for current effective exchange rates would have reduced reported profit by about £25m. Burberry had previously flagged a potential hit of about £55m.
