Luxury goods maker Burberry sales up over Christmas period

Luxury goods maker Burberry says retail sales rose in the three months including the critical Christmas season, as improved results in Asia helped reverse recent declines.

The maker of famous checkered clothing says retail sales advanced to 735 million pounds ($903 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up 4 percent excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. Growth in China accelerated, while declines in Hong Kong slowed to the "low single-digit" range.

The results come days before Marco Gobbetti joins Burberry as executive chairman for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. He will become chief executive in July.

Charlotte Pearce, an analyst at Verdict Retail, says Burberry's recent results have been "as checkered as its infamous prints," but the company will be pleased with the improvement in Asia.