Mulberry Group expects its full-year revenues and profits to be “moderately” ahead of expectations after a year in which its sales have recovered strongly from the effect of pandemic lockdowns.
The multichannel luxury leather brand, ranked Top150 in RXUK Top500 research, says in a trading update today that the “robust” sales trend that it saw in the first half of its 2022 full-year has continued into the second half. This, it says, “will result in group revenue for FY22 being moderately ahead of current expectations.” Profit margins have been maintained at the same time, it says.
Mulberry has increased its marketing spend in the second half of the year in order to build brand awareness around the world. Despite this, it says, profits for the year will also be moderately ahead of expectations.
In the first half of 2021 – the 26 weeks to September 25 – Mulberry saw group revenue grow by 34% to £65.7m, while returning to a pre-tax profit of £10.2m from a loss of £2.4m a year earlier. At the time, it said that it had benefited from its omnichannel distribution, while approaches developed during the pandemic, including virtual appointments, had continued to prove popular afterwards. Some 29% of first-half group revenue was online, demonstrating “the accelerated shift to digital and onichannel shopping across all regions.”
In 2021 the company has been recovering from a pandemic hit to sales and profitability that resulted in it closing eight shops and making 25% of its global staff redundant during 2020. However, it has said that its digital business helped to shield it from the worst of Covid-19.
