BURBERRY WARNS OF PAIN FROM HONG KONG HIT

BURBERRY has managed to shrug off a £14m hit from the Hong Kong protests as sales in the city state collapsed and stores were shut.

The luxury fashion retailer – which has featured actor Matt Smith in its Christmas ad campaigns (pictured) – has been forced to renegotiate leases with its landlords. It warned of more pain to come as it reported the ‘double-digit’ fall in sales in the first six months of the year.

Hong Kong accounted for 8pc of the group’s sales before the protests, but fell to 5pc in the most recent quarter.

The group had been forced to close some stores to keep staff safe but none had been damaged and no permanent closures have been announced. But the shares rose 3.5pc, or 69p, to 2129p yesterday on the back of strong sales growth elsewhere, especially in China.

Burberry also encouraged investors by saying the outlook for next year has not deteriorated, despite the turmoil in Hong Kong.

Revenue grew 5pc overall to £1.3bn in the first half of the year and operating profit grew 17pc to £202m.