Christopher Bailey took over as Burberry's CEO on 1 May this year. Creative director since 2001, he announced his accession by stating "My new role is an unconventional one and my background is not that of a traditional chief executive. As such I will lead Burberry in my own way.”
Bailey's vision for Burberry includes significant investment in beauty. Burberry sees this as a large market that is "under-penetrated" compared to its peers. He is establishing the beauty brand as the "fifth products division".
This will inevitably include a complex transition period but new ranges will be developed for fragrance, skin care and make up. Growth of 25% for beauty and mid teens for fragrance is the 2015 target. The investment will include scaling of fragrance distribution and development of the Burberry beauty Box concept.
Japan is also targeted for massive expansion with a vision to quadruple revenues in the country over the next few years.
Burberry announced revenue growth of 17% to £2.33bn and pre-tax profits up 27% to £444m for the year to the end of March.