Listed luxury retailers have been laid low by disappointing consumer spending data from China and downgrades from analysts at Barclays. Consumer prices growth in August was weaker than economists had expected, with prices in China rising by 0.6 per cent year-on-year.
Factory gate prices, measured by the producer prices index, were down by 1.8 per cent from the previous year. Meanwhile, analysts at Barclays, after spending two weeks travelling across China meeting industry experts, have concluded that weakness in the sector is structural, not cyclical, and will remain “weaker for longer”.
The retail figures and Barclays’ caution weighed heavily on Burberry, shares of which have fallen by almost 60 per cent this year. They lost another 291⁄2p, or 4.9 per cent, to 575p, their lowest since the financial crisis in 2009.
The Asia Pacific region accounts for almost half of the 150-year-old brand’s revenue..
