Burberry non-exec director to step down

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Apr 14, 2024

Burberry Group has announced its Independent Non-Executive Director Debra L Lee is to retire from the board following the UK luxury fashion house’s Annual General Meeting in July.

Given that Burberry is London-based and one of the highest-profile labels in UK fashion, it’s unsurprising that a busy director with other interests might struggle to give it her all. In fact, Lee said moving on will allow her to concentrate on her personal media interests in the US.

She joined the Board in October 2019 and serves on the Audit and Nomination Committees.

Burberry has been through an undeniably interesting time since she arrived, dealing with the pandemic and seeing a change of executive and creative leadership.
 
It’s also facing challenging times at present. It began 2024 on the back foot, starting the year with a profit warning.
 
It said that in the 13 weeks to 30 December, retail revenue dipped 7% to £706 million with comparable store sales down 4%. And its ops in the Americas saw comparable store sales plummet 15% with EMEIA also down, but by a smaller 5%. Only Asia Pacific was positive with a 3% rise with Mainland China up 8% and Japan rising 9% rise in Japan, offsetting a 10% fall in South Korea.