Burberry stock price plummets as profit slows

Burberry Group PLC’s (BRBY.LON, BB2.FRA) London stock price plummeted 21% to £10.88 after it issued a profit warning and reported its worst same-store sales growth figures since 2008, a sign that luxury retailers are being hit hard by a slowdown in the Chinese economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company will report full quarterly sales figures in October, but it divulged its worsening same-store growth for the first 10 weeks of the quarter in preparation for an investor meeting this month. Asia makes up almost 40% of Burberry’s wholesale and retail revenue, helping propel an 11% rise in same-store sales in the last quarter, following a 6% rise in the quarter before that. Burberry now predicts pre-tax profits for the fiscal year ended March 31 of between US$651-727 million, at the lower end of previous market expectations.