Mulberry posted a loss before tax of £5 million on Wednesday for the 53 weeks ended 30 March.
In 2018, the luxury handbag maker revealed a profit before tax of £6.9 million, now swinging to a £5 million loss.
Mulberry’s revenue amounted to £166.3 million, decreasing from the £169.7 million figure a year earlier, with international up 7% and UK down 6%.
Its global digital revenue continued to experience strong growth, rising by 27% to £36.9 million. This was driven by Mulberry’s strategic partnerships in the second half of the period, including johnlewis.com.
Mulberry said that in the UK, performance was materially affected by House of Fraser entering into administration during August 2018, in addition to the wider weakness of the UK retail environment, causing revenue to decline.
The difficult trading conditions to hit the UK high street have been highly reported by several brands, with store closures and staff cuts prevailing.
“The Group has delivered results in line with expectations and is making good progress in advancing its International strategy and direct to customer model whilst managing a challenging UK market,” Thierry Andretta, Chief Executive Officer of Mulberry, commented on the results.
“We have established new subsidiaries in Japan and South Korea and introduced important digital partnerships in China. International and omni-channel sales, driven by our customer centric focus, are increasing as a result,” the Chief Executive Officer added.
“Looking ahead, we anticipate that International and Digital sales will continue to grow whilst UK retail trading conditions are expected to remain uncertain. The Group plans to invest further in its new Asian entities during this development phase, enhance its global digital platform and optimise the UK network.”
Mulberry was founded in Somerset in 1971 and has 103 owned stores and 22 franchise partner stores across 25 countries.
Shares in Mulberry Group plc (LON:MUL) were up 4.67% as of 09:06 Wednesday.
