LONDON (Reuters) -British luxury group Burberry named former Michael Kors boss Joshua Schulman as its new chief executive on Monday, as it warned on profit and scrapped its dividend payment for this year.
A slow down in the luxury sector has hit Burberry hard over the last year, derailing the 168 year-old British brand as it tried to move upmarket.
The company said weakness in its market had deepened, pushing underlying sales down 21% in the 13 weeks to June 29, and as such it would switch back its offer to be “more familiar” to its “core customers”.
That decline prompted the board to say CEO Jonathan Akeroyd would leave with immediate effect by mutual agreement on Monday, just over two years after he took over.
Burberry, Britain’s biggest luxury brand which made its name dressing the English upper classes, said if current trends continue its full-year operating profit would come in below consensus.
The move to refocus back on its classic camel, red and black check print after a flirtation with bold colours would start to deliver an improvement in its second half, the company said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young in London, Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Kate Holton)
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