Sales strong at Mulberry

Luxury retailer Mulberry unveiled plans for an Edinburgh store this morning as the group reported strong UK retail sales. The Somerset-based leather goods specialist posted a 35 per cent rise in UK full-price like-for-like sales for the six months to September 30 and generated a pre-tax profit of£2.2 million. Mulberry chairman and chief executive Godfrey Davis said: 'We have delivered strong sales and profit growth by focusing on handbags and leather accessories. Demand continues to grow in the UK and Europe.' However, the group - famed for its Roxanne and Bayswater bags - is not optimistic that it will match last year's second-half sales performance. 'The rate of growth will decline in the second half because the figures will be compared with the period last year when substantial sales growth was achieved,' it said. Full-price like-for-like sales for the nine weeks to December 3 were up 11 per cent.