May 28 (Bloomberg) — Burberry Group Plc, the 152-year-old British luxury label known for its trademark plaid, had a 15 percent gain in second-half profit after shoppers bought $2,195 Warrior bags and new stores opened from Vienna to Hong Kong. be continued in our next

Net income rose to 69.1 million pounds ($136.8 million) in the six months through March from 60.3 million pounds a year earlier, according to annual results reported today by the London- based company. Sales climbed 19 percent to 546.3 million pounds. by way of illustration

Burberry, whose black-leather-and-fur trench coat was worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in the film version of “Sex and the City,” said today it plans to lift revenue from shipments to other retailers by 10 percent in the first half of fiscal 2009. The label is emphasizing its most luxurious products and plans to expand its own selling space this year by as much as 13 percent, including 15 new directly owned stores.

“Burberry is doing a good job in delivering solid margin improvements and there should be further profit gains from sourcing and supply through this year,” said John Guy, an analyst at MF Global Securities in London, who doesn’t have a rating on the stock. “The headwinds for them are coming from the weaker Spanish market and higher cost growth.”

Annual profit climbed to 135.2 million pounds, or 30.5 pence a share, from 110.2 million pounds, or 24.7 pence, in the prior period, the company said today. That missed the 137 million-pound median of nine analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales increased 17 percent to 995 million pounds.

North America I think it’s so.

Burberry fell 8 pence, or 1.6 percent, to 499 pence in London trading. The shares have slid 12 percent this year, dropping with other luxury stocks on signs that U.S. spending may have an earlier, steeper decline than analysts had anticipated. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA has slid 10 percent and Cie. Financiere Richemont SA is down 17 percent.

Burberry Chief Executive Officer Angela Ahrendts said at an analyst presentation she is “confident” the brand will continue to outperform peers and plans to keep expanding market share “aggressively” in all product categories. The company will invest in its own brand by buying up franchises and licenses, rather than by making external acquisitions, she said.

Burberry expects to lift sales in North America more than 20 percent this year, Chief Financial Officer Stacey Cartwright said on a conference call. Revenue in the region rose 26 percent excluding exchange rate movements in the last fiscal year.

`More Challenging’

“We are under-penetrated in the U.S. market in terms of the number of stores, which is significantly below that of our peers,” Cartwright said on the call. Burberry plans about six new outlets in the country this year.

The CFO said Burberry is “particularly satisfied” with its performance in North America after the global economic climate became “more challenging” in the second half.

The executives said they are “comfortable” with analysts’ estimates for earnings before interest and taxes of about 225 million pounds and pretax profit of 215 million pounds this year.

Analysts including Francois-Regis Breuil at Oddo Securities in Paris are concerned that markets in the U.S., Britain and Spain, which together account for about 50 percent of the luxury goods maker’s sales, may continue to weaken.

“Burberry’s margins would be severely affected by the slowing in activity,” Breuil, who has a “reduce” rating on the stock, wrote in a May 26 report.

Higher Dividend

Richemont, the world’s largest jewelry maker, said May 22 full-year profit growth slowed after the dollar’s drop and a weaker economy hurt U.S. necklace and bracelet sales. Bulgari SpA, the world’s third-largest jeweler, reported a 4.6 percent drop in first-quarter profit the previous week on costs to open stores and lower sales in its Italian home market.

Wholesaling generates about 43 percent of Burberry’s total revenue, while nearly 50 percent comes from retailing and the remainder from licensing the Burberry name for use on goods such as eyeglasses and perfumes.

The company has sought to make production and distribution more efficient as growth in the 170 billion-euro ($267 billion) luxury goods market becomes harder to achieve. Total costs for the so-called Atlas plan for new computers will remain at about 50 million pounds over three years, Burberry said in November.

The company plans capital spending of as much as 95 million pounds this year, Ahrendts said. The Atlas project means “complexity is Burberry’s competitive advantage,” she said.

Burberry plans to pay a second-half dividend of 8.65 pence a share, raising the total for the year by 14 percent to 12 pence.

Bloomberg calculated second half profit by subtracting first-half earnings from full-year results reported today. be further continued

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