Burberry shares slide despite strong sales Revenue from continuing operations in the six months to March 31 increased to £1.03bn. This was slightly lower than forecasts of a 21pc rise. A 16pc rise in fourth-quarter revenue to £453m also missed expectations. Angela Ahrendts, the Burberry chief executive, said: "We are pleased with Burberry's finish to the year across all channels, regions and product divisions. Looking ahead, while we remain vigilant about the external environment. The luxury industry is worried that the ongoing eurozone debt crisis will dent strong demand for high-end goods in emerging markets such as China. Shares in the company fell nearly 5pc a one stage in early trading. Burberry, known for its camel, red and black check pattern, said retail revenues rose almost a quarter to £743m and now account for 72pc of group sales. It said the outlook was good. . Like-for-like retail sales - those at stores open for a year or more - increased by 12pc, with the UK, France and Greater China strong, "especially in flagship markets." Wholesale and licensing sales rose 7pc to £230m and 5pc to £54m in the second half, respectively. Burberry plans a 12pc-14pc increase in average retail selling space, with a shift from smaller to larger stores. It also expects to open about 15 mainline stores, "biased towards emerging markets and cities with high tourist inflows." It sees mid single-digit percentage growth in wholesale revenues for the first half of 2012/13. Investec said in a note on Tuesday: "The update today is broadly in line versus both our and consensus expectations. Guidance for FY13E is also broadly in line with our assumptions, and overall we view this as reassuring. UK, France and (most importantly for share price sentiment) Greater China 'remained strong'. FY13E space growth will be focused on larger flagship stores, as expected. The shares reached a new high intra-day yesterday, and given the lack of upgrades today could see weakness, but we are happy to remain buyers.