# Burberry Group impacted by coronavirus

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/burberry-group-impacted-by-coronavirus/412805055
- Published: 2020-02-07T07:24:09+00:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**[Burberry Group plc](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/burberry-group/brby.l)**(
LON:BRBY) has today released an update on the impact of coronavirus.

Our most recent guidance for the year ended March 2020 predates the impact of the
coronavirus outbreak and we wanted to update the market. 

Currently 24 of our 64 stores in Mainland China are closed with remaining stores
operating with reduced hours and seeing significant footfall declines. This is impacting
retail sales in both Mainland China and Hong Kong S.A.R. The spending patterns of
Chinese customers in Europe and other tourist destinations have been less impacted
to date but given widening travel restrictions, we anticipate these to worsen over
the coming weeks.

We are taking mitigating actions but the benefit in the current year will be limited
given the proximity to our March year end. We also intend to continue our key growth
initiatives in preparation for a recovery in luxury demand. We will provide a retail
trading update following our financial year end.

We remain confident in our strategy and are very pleased with the positive response
to our brand repositioning and new product. We will continue to focus on newness
and fashion, and on inspiring and engaging our customers globally.

We fully support the efforts the Chinese government is taking to contain the virus
and we are working in close conjunction with local authorities and partners_._

> _“The outbreak of the coronavirus in Mainland China is having a material negative
> effect on luxury demand. While we cannot currently predict how long this situation
> will last, we remain confident in our strategy. In the meantime, we are taking
> mitigating actions and every precaution to help ensure the safety and wellbeing
> of our employees. We are extremely grateful for the incredible effort of our teams
> and our immediate thoughts are with the people directly impacted by this global
> health emergency.”_
> **Marco Gobbetti, Chief Executive Officer, Burberry Group**

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