British luxury fashion label Burberry has reported a better-than-expected rise in second-quarter retail sales after tourists flocked to its London stores to take advantage of the weaker pound.
This boosted sales in its home market by 30%.
The company said positive trading in Europe and a "significant out performance in the UK" helped it generate a 2% rise in comparable retail sales, its first growth in the measure for four quarters.
Burberry has been one of the best performing stocks since Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, helped by the weaker pound. Its shares are up 35% since the vote.
The company incurs about 40% of its costs in Britain, where its makes its famous trench coats, but makes only about 10% of its sales in its home market, with more than half of those coming from tourists, analysts estimate.
It said in July that the drop in the value of the pound, if sustained, would boost its adjusted profit for the year by about £90m.
Total sales for the group fell 4% on an underlying basis to £1.16 billion in the six months to the end of September, as its stores performance was dampened by a fall in wholesale and licensing revenues.
The group has been working to improve the performance of its stores.
Christopher Bailey will relinquish the chief executive half of his role to Marco Gobbetti from Celine next year, while remaining chief creative officer and becoming president.
He said the group was making progress in its self-improvement plan in a retail environment that remained " challenging".
"We remain on track to deliver our financial goals," he said.
Analysts had been expecting a 1% rise in second-quarter retail sales.
