Pre-tax profits have gone through the roof at West-based Mulberry, the luxury fashion brand famous for its iconic handbags. They were up 231% from £4.7m to £15.6m in the six months to September 30. The AIM-quoted group said today that total sales increased by 62% to £72.3m while like-for-like retail sales grew 44%.
"Our strategy to focus on international expansion continues to bear fruit," said chairman and chief executive Godfrey Davis. "Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, Mulberry continues to build market share internationally and we remain cautiously optimistic about the future prospects of the business."
Retail sales are up 18% for the 10 weeks to December 3 with like-for-like sales up 14% against strong comparatives. Meanwhile Spring/Summer 2012 orders are up 29% compared to the Spring/Summer 2011 end of season total with three months of the selling season remaining. In addition nine new store openings planned for the second half of the financial year.
First half milestones include opening a New York flagship store on Spring Street, Soho while the group's partners opened five new stores in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the same time, Mulberry's UK factory at Chilcompton, north Somerset has expanded, creating 60 new jobs.
The group, which specialises in the design, manufacture and sale of a full range of leather goods and accessories, increased first half UK like-for-like UK retail sales by 44% while in Europe, sales were up by 114% (like-for-like up 46%) with the opening of a concession in De Bijenkorf, Amsterdam during November 2010. Overall, USA sales have grown by 82%.
Sales through the website, www.mulberry.com, grew by 52% during the period to £4.8m, representing 7% of group sales. Mr Davis said that, in addition to being a profitable and growing sales channel, the web is a key marketing tool for the brand. He added: "We are currently half-way through a major project to replace our online platform which will give us greater functionality and creative freedom. We plan to launch this by the end of the next financial year."
The full year dividend of 4.0 pence per ordinary share was paid on 19 August 2011. In line with prior years, the Board is not recommending the payment of an interim dividend. The shares rose 36p or 2.41% to 1,530p in early trading.
