Mulberry returns to profit despite Paris tourism drop

The leather specialist posted a pre-tax profit of £100,000 for the half-year

Mulberry has profited from a high-profile marketing campaign featuring Cara Delevingne (Getty Images)

The Paris massacre deterred some Asian tourists from visiting Mulberry’s stores in the French capital, its chairman, Godfrey Davis, said yesterday.

However, in the sixth months to September the British luxury brand still managed to return to the black after its plan to win back UK customers with more affordable handbags gained momentum.

The leather specialist posted a pre-tax profit of £100,000 for the half-year, compared with a £1.1m loss in the same period the year before. The company, whose bags are modelled by Rolling Stone Sir Mick Jagger’s daughter, Georgia May Jagger, also saw turnover increase by 5 per cent to £67.8m, helped by a 20 per cent surge in online sales.

Its Freya handbags, which cost between £595 and £795, were among the bestsellers and a strong UK performance helped to offset weaker wholesale sales in parts of Asia.

The growth in revenue followed a turnaround plan by the label after an ill-fated upmarket push by former boss Bruno Guillon sent product prices soaring and alienated its core UK customers. The company took a sales hit and had to issue profits warnings. But it has since revamped prices and unveiled a new management team, with the appointments this year of the fashion veteran Thierry Andretta as chief executive, and Johnny Coca, a former design director for Céline’s accessories range, as creative director.

Mr Andretta, who has held senior roles at Gucci and LVMH, said yesterday: “Our strategy is beginning to deliver tangible results in line with our expectations.”

He also said that Mr Coca would unveil his first collection for Mulberry at London Fashion Week in February. Mulberry has not shown a full collection at the event since September 2013, and Mr Andretta said it would deliver “great quality within our targeted price range”.

Mulberry said total like-for-like retail sales in the 10 weeks to 5 December were up 5 per cent, and that full-year results would depend on the next few weeks of trading over Christmas and into January.