Burberry’s sales soared 27% to £470m in the three months to December 31, when the upscale fashion group’s retail and wholesale arms both achieved double-digit growth.

Excluding the restructured Spanish business, Burberry’s retail revenue rocketed 36% on an underlying basis to £335m during the period. Outerwear and large leather goods accounted for about half of the growth. Underlying wholesale revenue increased by 15% to £112m.

On a like-for-like basis retail

sales increased 14%. Investec analyst Katharine Wynne believed average unit prices contributed about half the like-for-like growth in the quarter.

Numis retail analyst Andrew Wade said that because of Burberry’s “better than expected” performance he had raised his profit forecast for this year from £271m to £287m.

He said: “As we become increasingly more cautious over the UK outlook for 2011, Burberry stands apart in our coverage universe as a genuine global growth story.”