Mulberry shares rose on Wednesday after its boss said the luxury group’s turnaround strategy was starting to pay off.
Shares were up by 4 per cent by midday after chief executive Andrea Baldo said a focus on the British fashion label’s home market was putting it on the right track.
The group said it was seeing business improve in the UK thanks to concessions in John Lewis and Selfridges stores.
Sales rose 10 per cent in the second quarter, helping to offset a 15pc tumble in the first, as losses narrowed from £15.3million last year to £7.4million.
But sales fell 4 per cent to £53.9months in the six months to 27 September, highlighting the difficult task faced by Baldo, who joined the group last year.
In the Asia Pacific region, sales plunged 17 per cent in the half-year, after the company shut 12 shops there this year in an attempt to rely less on China.
Cynthia Erivo is the new face of the British label’s relaunched Roxanne handbag
Baldo said he had succeeded in a rejig of prices so that now 60 per cent of the group’s products are sold below £1,000.
He said: ‘This has been an encouraging first half as we continue to deliver our ‘Back to the Mulberry Spirit’ strategy. We’re still early in the turnaround, but the foundations we’ve put in place are working, and we’re starting to see that reflected in performance.’
It has also seen ‘strong engagement’ with a new advertising campaign fronted by Wicked actress Cynthia Erivo for a new handbag.
The relaunch of its Roxanne bag, first popular in the 2000s, has helped to reel in ‘die hard’ Mulberry customers as well as appealing to ‘some new customers, probably a little bit younger than our usual core age group,’ Baldo said.
Since Baldo took on the job in September 2024, shares have dropped 14 per cent after Mulberry posted a loss of £23.7million for the year to 29 March.
Mulberry’s chief financial officer Billie O’Connor said that there was ‘a lot of untapped demand here in the UK’.
She said that new products, such as the £1,495 Roxanne handbag, were ‘really resonating’ even ahead of next week’s Budget.
‘That’s why you’re seeing this underlying performance, even in the results so far this year, and why we’re cautiously optimistic even going forward with the uncertainty of the Budget,’ O’Connor added.
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