British luxury brand Burberry cautioned today that a fall in sales in the key market of Hong Kong in the last quarter of 2014 could impact its full-year margin.
Known for its raincoats with camel, red and black-check patterned linings, Burberry said retail sales rose 14% to £604m, with comparable growth of 8%.
Burberry said its Asia-Pacific markets delivered low single-digit percentage growth in its third quarter.
This compared to double-digit growth in the previous six months, as sales in the high-margin market of Hong Kong fell slightly.
It said the slowdown in Hong Kong and a change in the regional sales mix had more than offset a modest improvement from exchange rate movements, which it had said in November could hurt its full-year retail/wholesale margin.
The global luxury goods industry is facing a testing time, with the Ukraine crisis hitting demand in Russia and pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong adding to concerns about a slowdown in China.
A government crackdown on corrupt gift giving in China has hurt luxury sales.
