The short version: Burberry swung back to a £54m operating profit in the six months to 26 September, on revenue up 6% to £1.1bn. The growth came from trench coats, rainwear and silk scarves sold at full price — the classics, not the hype — which tells you where the brand’s value now sits.
Burberry Group, the British luxury house, reported on 12 November that revenue for the 26 weeks to 26 September 2026 rose 6% to £1,098m, from £1,032m a year earlier. Reported operating profit came in at £54m, against an operating loss of £18m in the same half last year. Adjusted operating profit rose to £62m from £19m, and the adjusted operating margin improved by 390 basis points to 5.7%, according to the company’s interim results announcement.
Comparable retail sales — the like-for-like measure that strips out new and closed stores — grew 4% in both the half and the second quarter, after 5% in the first. Burberry counts that as its fifth consecutive quarter of growth. Joshua Schulman, Burberry’s chief executive, framed it around the strategy he launched two years ago, Burberry Forward, saying “our brand and our business are stronger.” The company declared no interim dividend.
The numbers behind Burberry’s return to profit
The recovery is real but uneven, and the regional split shows it. Comparable sales rose 12% in the Americas and 7% in Greater China over the half, while Asia Pacific added 3%. Burberry’s home region, EMEIA (Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa), fell 2%, or about 1% once the Middle East is excluded.
By category, womenswear grew 9% at constant exchange rates, menswear 3% and childrenswear 5%. Accessories rose 6%, with leather goods accelerating in the second quarter. Outerwear grew by double digits, helped by rainwear and a lighter tropical gabardine, and scarves “performed strongly”, led by silks, the company said.
Wholesale — Burberry selling to department stores and other retailers — jumped 17% to £174m. Licensing income slipped 5%. E-commerce grew in the mid-teens. Gross margin edged up 40 basis points to 68.3%, which Burberry attributes partly to full-price selling; FashionUnited reported that a one-off supply chain rebate also helped. The store estate was close to flat: seven openings and five closures left 412 directly operated stores.
Cash is the less comfortable line. FashionUnited reported a free cash outflow of £147m for the half, driven by a £197m working-capital outflow, with net debt at £988m.
Why the classics are carrying Burberry now
Burberry’s growth is coming from the products it is best known for, and that is the heart of this turnaround. Outerwear, rainwear, gabardine and scarves are the categories the company has leaned back into — the same categories it put at the centre of its Regent Street flagship, which it has turned into Burberry House, complete with a trench repair service.
It is a pattern we have seen across the accessible end of luxury this autumn. Brands with a recognisable core product and disciplined pricing have grown while logo-led houses have struggled. Mulberry reported an 18% rise in sales at full price, and Coach grew 16% on its handbags while its sister brand Kate Spade shrank. The common thread is a product customers already understand and want, sold without constant discounting.
The Faz read: a 5.7% margin is a recovery, not a finished job
The honest reading of these results is that Burberry has found its footing, not its peak. A 68.3% gross margin means each trench or scarf earns a great deal over what it costs to make. A 5.7% adjusted operating margin means most of that is still being absorbed by stores, staff, marketing and overheads before it reaches the bottom line. The £100m of annual cost savings Burberry is targeting, £80m of which it says was delivered last financial year, is what closes that gap — not a sudden surge in demand.
The weakness at home matters too. EMEIA is the only region where comparable sales are still falling, in the brand’s own backyard. The growth is being bought in the Americas and China, which leaves the recovery exposed to how those two markets hold up through 2027.
There is also a lesson here that reaches beyond one company. What is working for Burberry now is not novelty but focus: fewer reasons to buy, made well, sold at full price. That is the territory independent and craft-led outerwear makers have occupied all along, and it is a useful reminder that a strong core product outlasts a creative reinvention.
What it means if you buy, own or sell Burberry
Full-price discipline means fewer markdowns on the pieces Burberry is proudest of. If a trench or a gabardine coat is the item you want, do not plan your purchase around a sale that may not come; Burberry credits full-price selling for its better gross margin, which points away from discounting its core lines.
If you already own a Burberry trench, the brand’s renewed focus on outerwear — and the repair offer at Burberry House — makes the classic models worth maintaining rather than replacing. A well-kept heritage trench holds its appeal on the resale market far better than a seasonal runway piece.
If you are shopping more broadly for a serious raincoat, the same rule applies whichever label you choose. Buy the cut and cloth that have been made for decades. Look first at vintage and estate stock, where older Burberry and other British-made trenches turn up regularly; then at independent outerwear makers and craft workshops; then at accessible luxury; and only then at mainstream luxury at full price. Skip the mid-tier mass market entirely — a fused, polyester-lined “trench” at a high-street price will not last long enough to be good value.
What happens next
Burberry will publish its third-quarter trading update on 21 January 2027, which will cover the Christmas period and show whether the Americas and China can keep carrying the business. It has also scheduled a capital markets day in London for March 2027, where investors will expect firmer margin targets. For the full year, the company guides to broadly stable retail space, wholesale growth of 10% to 12%, capital spending of about £100m and a currency tailwind of around £20m on revenue.
Where this leaves you
Burberry’s return to profit is built on a raincoat, a scarf and a willingness to stop discounting them. For a shopper, that is a clear signal: the value in this brand sits in its oldest designs, and those are the pieces worth buying, keeping and repairing.
The next move is yours.
Sources: Burberry Group interim results announcement, 12 November 2026 · Burberry first-quarter trading update · FashionUnited
