Burberry: Fashion brand to axe up to 1,700 jobs after suffering 'challenging first half' with £3m loss

It comes as part of efforts to slash staff costs and return the luxury fashion brand to a profit. The company said it was hiking its cost-cutting target to £100 million of savings per year by the 2027 financial year.

These savings will partly come from a reduction in “people-related costs”, the firm said, which could affect around 1,700 jobs globally over the two-year programme. The British brand revealed it had tipped into a loss of £3 million in the year to March 29, swinging from a profit of £418 million the previous year.

Retail comparable store sales fell 12% year-on-year, with a 16% slump in sales across Asia dragging on the total. It stressed it remained in the “early stages of a turnaround”.

Chief executive Joshua Schulman told investors: “While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry’s best days are ahead and that we will deliver sustainable profitable growth over time.” He added: “After a challenging first half, we have moved at pace to implement Burberry Forward, our strategic plan to reignite brand desire, improve our performance and drive long-term value creation.

“Our customers are responding to our Timeless British Luxury brand expression. With improvement in brand sentiment, we will be ramping up the frequency and reach of our campaigns as our Autumn and Winter collections arrive in store.

“The continued resilience of our outerwear and scarf categories reaffirms my belief that we have the most opportunity where we have the most authenticity. While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry’s best days are ahead and that we will deliver sustainable profitable growth over time.”