TRADING has picked up in recent weeks for British luxury brand Burberry with improvements in the important Hong Kong and Chinese mainland markets, adding to hopes of a better performance in its peak sales months.

    The firm, famous for its trench coats, cashmere scarves and ponchos, said Thursday comparable store sales since the beginning of October had improved relative to the previous three months when they fell 4 percent.

    Last month Burberry missed sales growth forecasts for the first half of its financial year and warned of an increasingly challenging environment for luxury goods, particularly in China, sending its shares to a near three-year low.

    In the previous quarter comparable store sales had crashed over 20 percent in Hong Kong and about 5 percent on the Chinese mainland.

    Hong Kong and mainland shoppers account for between 30 and 40 percent of Burberry’s global revenue.

    “Hong Kong has improved but remains very challenging. In China (the Chinese mainland) we have returned to positive comparable growth,” finance chief Carol Fairweather told reporters.(SD-Agencies)