Burberry Group PLC on Friday said comparable store sales increased across most its global regions, lifting retail revenue in the first quarter of its financial year.

In the 13 weeks that ended July 1, the London-based luxury fashion house said overall comparable store sales rose 18% from a year earlier, including a positive performance across several global divisions.

Comparable store sales for the group excluding Mainland China was up 11%. Within that, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa sales were up 17%, South Asia Pacific up 39%, Japan up 44% and South Korea up 6%. The Americas division was an outlier, falling 8%.

Burberry also reported a ‘strong recovery’ in Mainland China, where comparable store sales rose 46%.

As a result, first-quarter group retail revenue was £589 million, up 17% from £505 million a year earlier, and up 19% at constant exchange rates.

Burberry said core categories of outerwear and leather goods performed well. Outerwear comparable store sales were up 36%, led by heritage rainwear, while leather goods comparable store sales were up 13%.

‘All regions outside of the Americas saw growth with Mainland China recovering from Covid-19 related lockdowns in the previous year. EMEIA, Japan and South Asia Pacific showed good double-digit growth more than offsetting declines in the Americas,’ the hand bags and trench coats maker explained.

‘During the quarter, we continued to invest in brand and product, with our new visual expression of Burberry driving the strong performance of outerwear, in particular heritage rainwear. Comparable store sales of leather goods also delivered double-digit growth, with women’s bags, especially the Frances shapes and vintage Burberry Check line performing well. We look forward to building on this when [chief creative officer] Daniel Lee’s debut runway collection launches in stores in September.’

Looking ahead, Burberry maintained its current year guidance of high single-digit revenue compound annual growth rate from a financial 2020 base. This equates to a low double-digit growth in its current financial 2024 and around 20% of adjusted operating margin at financial 2020 constant exchange rates.

Burberry added it expects a currency headwind of around £150 million to revenue and around £70 million to adjusted operating profit, based on forex rates at June 29. It also maintains a medium-term revenue target of £4 billion in revenue.

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