Mulberry Group looking for a JV Parter in Korea

Despite a profit decline for its latest year, UK luxury leathergoods company Mulberry Group plans to form a JV to develop its business in South Korea.

It says it has signed an agreement with SHK Holdings to form Mulberry (Korea) Co. It will own 60 per cent of the new entity and the two companies will invest £4.6 million (US$6.1 million) to buy assets and to develop the business in South Korea.

Mulberry last year had plans to launch an equal-share JV with another company as well as plans to launch into Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, for the financial year to March 31, Mulberry made a profit of £6.9 million, down from £7.5 million the year earlier.

Revenue rose 1 per cent to £169.7 million, it said. Retail sales grew 3 per cent, with UK sales broadly flat and international sales up 20 per cent. Digital sales grew 14 per cent, making up to 17 per cent of group revenue, the company said.

For current trading, Mulberry says retail like-for-like sales fell 7 per cent in the 10 weeks to June 2 with international sales up 1 per cent. However, UK sales were down 9 per cent because of lower footfall.