Burberry Group predicted a 35 per cent jump in profit for the current financial year, driven by a surge of online sales as luxury brands recovered from the pandemic. The London-based fashion house said full-price sales accelerated 26 per cent in the last three months of 2021, with the Americas showing “strength” and Asia-Pacific showing improvement. “Full-price sales continued to grow at a double-digit percentage compared with two years ago, accelerating from the previous quarter and reflecting a higher quality business,” said chairman Gerry Murphy in a press release on Wednesday. The jump in sales came as luxury brands slowly rebounded after they were battered by travel restrictions, quarantine measures and sluggish economic growth brought on by Covid-19. Changes in strategy among the the major players have been largely paying off. Full-price sales through digital channels recorded high double-digit growth compared with 2020, Burberry said. The company has seen strong momentum on platforms such as video sharing site TikTok. The luxury fashion house and peers such as Louis Vuitton have turned to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and gaming to promote their brands, as interest in digital art takes off. The company released an NFT character called Sharky B for Mythical Games’ multiplayer online game Blankos Block Party in August. Burberry’s share price added 6.8 per cent to £198.25 (US$270.48) in London on Wednesday, on track for its biggest rally since November 9, 2020. Full-price sales in China surged 37 per cent from 2020, helping comparable store sales to growth of 15 per cent despite flat growth in the Asia-Pacific region over all, Burberry said. Comparable store sales globally advanced 7 per cent in the period, better than the 5.1 per cent growth expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The group’s retail revenue rose 5 per cent to £723 million. The company has been striving to boost business by offering more discounts and increasing the proportion of sales under its own network of shops. This is similar to the strategies adopted by rivals such as Prada SpA, which reported better-than-expected sales of €3.36 billion on Tuesday. Sales of luxury brands are gradually returning to their pre-pandemic levels, said Jonathan Yan, the Shanghai-based principal of consultancy Roland Berger. He is optimistic about the outlook for the sector as companies have increasingly adapted to the changing consumption environment during the pandemic. “The proportion of their online sales channels and self-managed shops will rise further,” he said. “But the brands need to better adapt to the changes in online sales and the new generation of consumers.” Burberry had undergone a rebranding and was tapping social media to attract younger luxury shoppers under the leadership of former chief executive officer Marco Gobbetti, who left the company for Italy’s Salvatore Ferragamo. Burberry’s incoming CEO Jonathan Akeroyd will join the group in April, Murphy said.