Burberry profits "enabled by SAP"

Iconic high-end fashion brand Burberry, which will soon open a flagship Sydney store, has attributed its profit leap to operational improvements delivered by its IT department's long-running SAP implementation.

"We have a world class replenishment program that we have put in place, enabled by SAP," Burberry's chief executive, Angela Ahrendts said on Wednesday at the release of its half year result.

Burberry was enjoying a resurgence in popularity driven largely by demand in China, which drove pre-tax profits up 50 per cent over the past six months to £118m ($191m), it reported Wednesday.

The fashion house's SAP and Business Objects implementation - known internally as "Project Atlas" and aided by services firm Capgemeni- had finally delivered transparency over its global range of products, according to Ahrendts.

As far back as 2007, the company was facing pressure from analysts over when the system would deliver that transparency

"We are flowing goods more more early and much more frequently than we historically have," Ahrendts said.

Elements of Burberry's SAP system came online back in 2007, while recent efforts have focussed on Asia Pacific nations, including a deployment within Australia, according to UK enterprise tech news site CIO.co.uk.

Ahrendts noted its Asian expansion plans included a "new flagship" store in Sydney.