MARKET REPORT: Burberry drops 7.2% in a week with ups and downs for the brand

Burberry ended its dismal week in the red amid fears more profit warnings could be in the offing.

The British luxury brand, famous for its trench coats and scarves, suffered further losses just days after scrapping its dividend, issuing a profit warning and firing its chief executive.

Shares in Burberry (which now has its fourth boss in ten years) fell 7.2 per cent, or 54.4 pence, to 697.6 pence.

This brought the stock’s losses for the week to more than a fifth, its worst performance since November 2008, when shares fell 24.9 percent in the week ended November 21, 2008.

The latest sell-off came as concerns mounted that Burberry could be forced to cut its guidance further.

Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet said consensus estimates of a 2025 profit of £298m could be halved. Burberry this week sacked its chief executive, Jonathan Akeroyd, following a slump in sales. He has been replaced by Joshua Schulman, the former chief executive of Michael Kors, who is tasked with overseeing the British firm’s turnaround.

In a note to clients, Deutsche Numis Research said this week that some investors may be wondering whether further changes are needed, with creative director Daniel Lee remaining in place.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent, or 49.17 points, to 8,155.72 and the FTSE 250 lost 0.8 per cent, or 166.48 points, to 21,067.68. A global computer outage sparked chaos yesterday, with airlines, banks and doctors’ surgeries among the worst hit.

Miners fell as gold prices tumbled. Fresnillo fell 1.4 percent, or 8.5 pence, to 616 pence, Centamin fell 0.9 percent, or 1.2 pence, to 131.7 pence and Hochschild Mining fell 0.5 percent, or 1 pence, to 182.8 pence.

The owner of the Segro property has sold four warehouses in Italy for £276m.

The premises, located in Milan and Rome, had been let to retail clients. Shares fell 1.8 percent, or 17 pence, to 908.2 pence.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint soared after raising its annual forecasts following a bumper first half of the year.

The company, which has owned Burger King in the UK since 2017, said its management fees rose by a quarter to £156m in the six months to June 30.

And profits rose 57 per cent to £78.7m over the period. The strong performance, driven by a surge in fundraising, prompted the group to upgrade its management fee forecast in 2024. Shares gained 6.1 per cent, or 15.8p, to 274.8p.

Gambling stocks came under pressure following weak second-quarter results from Swedish online gaming group Evolution.

Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain fell 3.1 percent, or 20.4p, to 644.2p, and Flutter, owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, fell 0.3 percent, or 40p, to 15,365p.

AJ Bell rose again a day after the investment platform reported a surge in activity from retail investors. Assets under management rose to a record £83.7bn as the number of clients increased by 25,000 to 528,000 in the three months to the end of June. Analysts at Jefferies and Berenberg upgraded their ratings on the stock. The shares, which rose 5.9 per cent on Thursday, added 1.6 per cent, or 6.5p, to 427p.