Investor demand for Burberry Group (LSE: BRBY) has marched higher again in recent weeks, and it is not difficult to see why.
The London-based luxury fashion house, which has seen its share price jump 23% during the past six months, has been supported by news that sales continue to pick up in its global marketplaces. Its latest trading numbers in July smashed past even the most optimistic of broker expectations.
Burberry reported a 13% sales improvement during April-June, or 4% on a like-for-like basis, helped by a stream of well-received product launches. The business saw trade continue to improve in Asia, with Mainland China reporting “mid-teens percentage growth” and performance also picking up in Hong Kong. And in its aggregated EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) territory, sales rose by high single-digit percentages.
Exceptional revenues growth is not the only reason why share pickers are piling back into the company, however. Its cost control strategy to create a more efficient earnings-generating machine in the years ahead also receiving plenty of plaudits. The firm remains on course to achieve cost savings of £50m this year alone, it says.
Pricey but pristine
The thing I particularly love about Burberry is that the fashion favourite gives plenty for both growth and dividend investors to shout about.
With the extreme sales pressures in its far-flung Asian markets gradually easing, the bottom-line recovery that kicked off last year still has plenty left in the tank, at least according to City analysts. Earnings rises of 2% and 12% are forecast for the years to March 2018 and 2019, respectively.
And these perky profits predictions are expected to keep dividends growing at a splendid rate, too. The 38.9p per share forked out in 2016 is expected to rise to 40.9p in the current year, resulting in a not-too-shoddy 2.1% yield. And the 44.9p payout pencilled in for fiscal 2019 yields a meaty 2.4%.
While it may not fit the bill for value chasers – the Footsie beauty carries a forward P/E multiple of 23.9 times – I reckon the evergreen appeal of Burberry’s brand with fashion lovers across the globe makes it worthy of a premium rating.
Packaging star
Paper powerhouse Mondi (LSE: MNDI) is another of the FTSE 100’s terrific ‘all rounders’, with City analysts predicting chunky earnings and dividend growth here, too.
Earnings rises of 9% and 8% are forecast for 2017 and 2018, and these figures make the company exceptional value (it carries a forward P/E ratio of 14.1 times). Meanwhile, anticipated dividends of 64.5 and 67 euro cents per share for this year and next create large yields of 3.1% and 3.2%.
Now stock pickers, unlike over at Burberry, have fallen a little out of love with Mondi following its warning earlier this month that profits would fall “modestly below market expectations” as a result of rising costs in the third quarter.
But I believe the packaging giant’s long-term investment case remains a compelling one given the supply pressures in its key markets, and that investors should capitalise on recent price weakness. I fully expect Mondi’s share price to resume its upward march sooner rather than later.
