Burberry and easyJet are on course to be relegated from the FTSE 100 next month following the latest quarterly review of the index’s constituents.
Marker operator FTSE Russell said it would make a final determination based on their respective share prices at the close of business next Tuesday.
Its indicative findings would also see the insurer Hiscox and Tritax Big Box – an investor in distribution centres – step up to the top flight from the lower tier FTSE 250.
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Burberry is the big, and frankly shocking, name to see at risk of relegation. It has been a stalwart of the FTSE 100 for 15 years.
But its market value has plunged more than 70% since April 2023, standing just below £2.6bn as of Tuesday’s close, easily making the company’s stock the worst-performing of 2024 on the FTSE 100.
Some of its problems are not of its own making.
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Demand for luxury, globally, has tailed off this year.
But Burberry is particularly exposed to the troubled Chinese market, one that has taken longer than expected to recover meaningfully from the end of COVID disruption despite an initial boom for sales in 2022.
Commentators have criticised Burberry’s strategy, in particular the decision to take the company further upmarket, raising prices at a time of apparent frugality among its core customer base.
The architect of that path, Jonathan Akeroyd, was ousted last month.
A replacement chief executive in former Michael Kors boss Joshua Schulman was named at the same time, alongside financial results that showed the extent of the hit to sales.
Like for like sales over the 13 weeks to 29 June were down 21% on the same period last year.
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What has gone wrong at Burberry?
Burberry also suspended its dividend.
Among the other changes easyJet, for its part, has become something of a FTSE 100 yo-yo in recent years. It was last promoted in March.
In other looming moves, FTSE Russell said the additions to the FTSE 250 could include Raspberry PI, the affordable computer supplier.
Its promotion was made possible following a successful London stock market debut in June.
