Burberry shares tumble on profit warning Shares in Burberry tumbled on Tuesday after it warned investors that its annual profit would be lower than some analysts had expected following a broad slowdown in sales growth. In an unscheduled trading update, the luxury goods maker said its retail sales had been flat year on year in the 10 weeks to September 8, excluding new store openings and currency movements. Retail sales - which do not include wholesale and licensing revenues - rose 6 per cent with trading from new stores factored in. This was down from 14 per cent in the preceding three months. Burberry said the slowdown meant its underlying pre-tax profit for the year to March 31 2013 would be at the lower end of market expectations. Analysts had been expecting between £407m and £455m. Stacey Cartwright, chief financial officer, said the number of people entering its stores had dipped in recent weeks. "It is the last couple of weeks we are particularly referring to - it is actually a very broad-based slowdown," she said. Although Ms Cartwright said it was too early to say exactly what had caused the fall in customer traffic, she said the company had heard that rivals were also suffering. "We know that we are not alone," she said. Shares in Burberry fell 17.8 per cent to £11.31 in early morning trading on Tuesday following the announcement. Other luxury goods groups also declined, with LVMH down 4.1 per cent at €126.85 and PPR off 3.67 per cent at €123.20. It said measures had been taken to manage discretionary costs to protect short-term profitability. Ms Cartwright said these included a travel freeze, adding that the release of products with a particular "wow" factor had been accelerated. The company had already missed analysts" sales forecasts with its first-quarter figures in July, when it said it faced a "more challenging external environment." Burberry's downbeat tone on Tuesday contrasted with the optimistic note sounded by Hermès International, its French rival, which increased its annual sales and profitability targets at the end of August. Kate Calvert, an analyst at Seymour Pierce, said the slowdown at Burberry suggested that weak global economic news had hit travel and store footfall. "The trend Burberry is talking about may seem at odds with the rest of the sector news of late but we note that this is current news up until September 8 and would not be surprised if other luxury players are seeing similar trends," she said.