Burberry Cutting a Fifth of Workforce in a Drastic Bid to Save Money

The British fashion house, Burberry, has announced it is to slash 1700 jobs in a bid to revive its business.

The news saw the company’s shares rise 8% as it also announced a surprise full-year adjusted operating profit of £26 million where a loss had been predicted. The company’s fourth-quarter comparable sales have also fallen slightly less than expected in what is proving a tough time for the majority of luxury brands. 

Reuters reports that the cuts will happen over the next and will mostly come from office roles though it is also going to cancel the night shift at its trench coat factory in Castleford, England. 

Burberry has been constantly in the headlines thanks to bad results and take-over rumours. IThe company is now under the watchful eye of by CEO Joshua Schulman, who was formerly at Coach and Jimmy Choo. "The customers we want to grow, who have been declining for three years, are now excited about what they see," Schulman said in a presentation to investors.

The CEO also spoke optimistically of the positive reaction to the brand’s February show in which it went back to basics and focussed upon its Britishness. 

Schulman is the fashion brand’s fourth CEO in a decade and is contending with tariff wars as well as a worldwide slowdown in sales, but, in particular, a drop in US consumer spending.