For the first time in 17 years, Burberry Group Plc has received a buy rating from Citi, marking a significant shift in sentiment toward the British luxury brand.
A Burberry Group luxury boutique in London. – Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. analyst Thomas Chauvet, who had maintained a neutral stance on the stock since the Global Financial Crisis, upgraded his recommendation to buy on Thursday. Chauvet stated that “potential rewards now outweigh the risks,” a move that led Burberry shares to rise by as much as 4% in intraday trading.
Burberry’s stock has struggled in recent years, falling roughly 70% from its peak two years ago. The decline reflects the brand’s difficulty in repositioning itself further upmarket, alongside a broader slowdown in demand for luxury goods. The downturn also led to Burberry losing its position in the UK’s FTSE 100 Index in 2023.
“Whilst patience is needed, potential rewards now outweigh the risks, considering the company’s significant transformation potential over the next three years,” Chauvet wrote in a note to clients.
He pointed to the “Burberry Forward” strategy launched by new chief executive officer Joshua Schulman, which aims to elevate the brand’s global visibility and desirability. Chauvet suggested this strategic shift could drive a long-term revival.
Following a promising trading update in January, investors and analysts will seek further confirmation of progress when Burberry reports its next results on May 14.
LuxExperience has reported Q3 results for its legacy Mytheresa business and said it saw a “solid” net sales rise of almost 4% plus “continued strong adjusted EBITDA profitability at a 4% margin”.
MYTHERESA
Q3 of FY25 covers the three months to the end of March and the company said it saw the growth despite a tough market environment.
Highlights included what it called an “outstanding” Average Order Value, continued gross margin expansion, falling return rates, record-high NPS and “strong profitability”, although it remains loss-making on a reported net income basis.
LuxExperience CEO Michael Kliger hailed “the strength of the Mytheresa business model. Solid GMV growth, higher top customer spend, continued product margin expansion and strong profitability [that] show the health and resilience of the Mytheresa business despite macro headwinds”.
He also said the numbers “underline the fantastic prospects for the recently acquired Yoox Net-A-Porter business. We continue to demonstrate our ability to execute well and achieve strong results under macro uncertainties where other players fail. Combined we will create the leader in global digital, multi-brand luxury with strong profitability and growth.”
So let’s dive into the details. Mytheresa saw a net sales increase of 3.8% year-on-year to €242.5 million, although in the year to date, net sales rose 8% so the latest quarter did see a slowdown.
GMV growth was 3.8% to €261.3 million and Average Order Value increased by 8.8% to €753. The gross profit margin of 44.8% was an increase of 140 BPs year-on-year.
Adjusted EBITDA of €9.3 million was up from €8.9 million a year ago and the adjusted EBITDA margin edged up to 3.9% from 3.8%, although again, this lagged the full year so far that was at 4.3%.
Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that the company remains loss-making with the loss this time being €5.5 million for the quarter, wider than the €3.3 million of Q3 a year earlier. And for the year to date the loss was €33.7 million, more than the €21.3 million loss of the previous year to date.
But the company also said that adjusted net income this time was positive at €5.4 million compared to €3.8 million 12 months earlier and for the year to date the adjusted net profit figure was €21.4 million, much more than the €3.2 million of the previous ninemonth period. Adjusting items included major one-off costs linked to closing a distribution centre, professional fees and legal expenses.
Returning to the highlights of the latest period, the company said it saw an expansion of its partnership with Prada to global distribution rights including the US; a successful two-week immersive Aspen Après-Ski experience in cooperation with Bemelmans in Aspen, with strong acquisition of new high-net-worth customers; the launch of exclusive capsule collections and pre-launches in collaboration with Loewe, Etro, Balenciaga, Manolo Blahnik, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Valentino Garavani, Toteme, Tod’s and many more; impactful Top Customer events around the globe and “money-can’t buy” experiences in partnership with luxury brands; and “outstanding customer satisfaction” with a Net Promoter Score of 86% in Q3 FY25.
But the company still clearly faces challenges. As mentioned, it remains loss-making on a reported basis and also said that “given the recent uncertainties on tariffs and their effects on customer sentiment”, it’s cautious on sales and GMV expectations.
“We now expect for GMV and net sales growth the lower end of our given guidance of 7% to 13% for the full fiscal year ending June 30 2025 for the legacy Mytheresa standalone business,” it said. But it added: “Given our continuous focus on profitability we confirm our guidance for adjusted EBITDA margin in the range of 3% and 5%”.
As for YNAP, its completed acquisition in Q4 is expected to add another €300 million-€350 million net sales and an adjusted EBITDA loss of between €20 million and €30 million added to the legacy Mytheresa standalone business’s FY25 numbers.
But it’s “very excited for the medium- and long-term outlook of the combined business. With our proven ability to execute and to show strong results we confirm our medium-term outlook for the combined business” to achieve around €4 billion net sales per year and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7%-9%.
Starting with the Q4 results, the company will be reporting in three operating segments: Luxury – Mytheresa (that is, the legacy Mytheresa standalone business); Luxury – NAP & MRP (Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter); and Off-Price (the Yoox and The Outnet businesses).
“I’m not concerned by tariffs, but by the uncertainty that this [tariff war] has created. It’s clear that we’re heading for less than wonderful times, but we have the conditions for doing well,” said Andrea Guerra, CEO of the Prada group, speaking at the Family Business Forum held in Arezzo, Italy.
Andrea Guerra – Courtesy of Prada
“Of course young people are leaving Italy, the important thing is that they come back eventually, it’s clear that it’s good for them to go. I think the really big opportunity is finding people who have been out [of the country] and bringing them back,” he added.
“We’ve come to a generation that no longer cares whatever someone in America might say. My children have a different perspective, they look to see if someone walks the walk as well as talking the talk. They reason differently, and the world is in their hands, in the hands of the 30-35-year-olds, whatever Mr Trump says,” said Guerra.
“In four to five months we will begin a journey with a label, [Versace], that has been one of the founders of luxury fashion in Italy. We’re talking about an exceptional name that surely has lost some of its shine, but over the course of one to five years we will try to understand how far we can take it again,” added Guerra. “In the luxury sector, patience is not a complementary ingredient, it’s an essential one, as are the calm and tranquillity of starting a fresh journey in the right way,” he concluded.
May 13 was the deadline for potential buyers of French fashion chain Jennyfer to file their bids. Jennyfer, which has 999 employees, was placed in judicial liquidation while continuing to trade on April 30, and FashionNetwork.com has learnt from sources close to the matter that 12 bids for the chain have been put forward, most of them for a partial acquisition. The bids will be officially presented to Jennyfer’s employee representatives at a committee meeting scheduled on May 15. Jennyfer, whose main consumer targets are teenagers and young women, was placed in receivership in 2023. In summer 2024, it was sold to two of its senior executives, Yann Pasco and Jean-Charles Gaume, backed by Shanghai Pure Fashion Garments Co. Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer producing for Jennyfer.
Last year, Jennyfer changed logo and name, dropping the words ‘don’t call me’ – Jennyfer
Jennyfer, which has been allowed to continue trading until May 28, currently runs 130 directly operated stores in France (plus 53 affiliated ones), and approximately 40 outside France. A store fleet that has attracted several potential buyers, including some big names in French retail.
FashionNetwork.com has learnt that Brittany-based group Beaumanoir (owner among others of Cache Cache, Bonobo, La Halle, and Boardriders) would like to buy 26 Jennyfer stores. “The units in question are positioned in strategic locations that would allow the Beaumanoir group to continue to extend the retail footprint of its existing brands,” Beaumanoir told FashionNetwork.com. The group’s bid reportedly means that 160 jobs would be saved. Beaumanoir is also interested in buying the rights to the Jennyfer brand, to have the option of subsequently relaunching it.
A joint bid has been put forward by fashion retailers Celio and Pimkie, which are said to have agreed to acquire approximately 50 stores, the majority of them for Pimkie, which could still operate them under the Jennyfer name. Over 300 jobs would be involved in this bid. After an organisational overhaul, Pimkie has recently claimed to have found new momentum. Menswear retailer Celio would instead have the opportunity of expanding its fleet of ‘twin stores’ combining the Celio and Be Camaïeu brands, by adding seven new addresses, as Celio told FashionNetwork.com.
Jennyfer
Other bids relate only to Jennyfer’s inventory, notably by inventory clearance specialists like Noz, which in the past acquired the stock of several struggling brands, notably Minelli, Olly Gan, and Esprit. Finally, a few bids relate to a limited number of Jennyfer stores only.
All the bids will be examined by the Bobigny trade court on May 28. Until then, Jennyfer stores will continue to operate, but the brand’s e-shop has been closed.
Jennyfer deployed a recovery plan last year, which included revamping its brand image and broadening the consumer target, but in the last nine months the chain’s owners have failed to make the recovery a reality, penalised by “skyrocketing costs, slumping purchasing power, changes in the apparel market and increasingly aggressive international competition.”
Jennyfer was founded 40 years ago, and in 2023 it filed a redundancy plan that related to 75 positions at headquarters and logistics.