Burberry - FT.com Britain's high street may be soggy but high-end trenchcoat maker Burberry is not. The eurozone can melt down, China can slow and rain can fall, but the luxury goods company is as impermeable as its wet-weather gear. On Wednesday, Burberry reported that revenues and profits before tax for the year to March had both risen by about a quarter. Operating margins widened 80 basis points to 16.4 per cent as brand-conscious customers in the Asia-Pacific region (making up nearly two-fifths of sales) donned its apparel or carried its bags. Burberry's shift from wholesaler to retailer under chief executive Angela Ahrendts has paid off too: more than two-thirds of sales now come from retail versus two-fifths when she arrived in 2006. Its market capitalisation has even overtaken that of Marks and Spencer, the UK high street store chain. As M&S moderates its growth targets, Burberry just grows. Yet investors sold the company's shares on Wednesday after it warned of lower profitability in the first half of the current year because of the timing of wholesale shipments and capital expenditure. They miss the point. By all means own luxury goods shares because of strong Asia-Pacific demand for high-end brands. Burberry shares have, after all, been a one-way bet since their financial crisis trough, rising more than eightfold. But that has created unrealistic expectations. If anything, investors should welcome Burberry's planned £180m-£200m capex on floorspace, bigger flagship stores and, critically, digital innovation. Wisely, it is expanding to reach luxury shoppers everywhere. And it has the wherewithal: net cash of £340m, despite £180m of capex and acquisitions last year. Even so, the group should heed the sell-off. Expectations for any China-facing company need careful management. Burberry, for its part, can see sunshine beyond China.