Burberry has reported that demand for its signature trench coats helped push sales higher in the first half of the year, with revenues growing 6% to £1.1 billion for the six months to September 26, according to reporting by the PA News Agency carried by the Bournemouth Echo.

The company said sales grew across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and accessories, and highlighted double-digit growth in outerwear — coats and jackets — including its gabardine trench coat style as well as new cashmere and leather products.

The brand, which operated 412 stores globally at the end of September, framed the results as evidence that its two-year-old turnaround strategy is, in its own words, "working."

The market reaction was immediate: shares in the British luxury fashion house surged around 8% on Thursday morning after the results, the PA News Agency reports via The Worcester News.

The financial reversal is striking — Burberry swung to a pre-tax profit of £19 million for the half year, against a £48 million loss in the same period the year before. The company had returned to an annual profit last year, and the latest results show that progress continuing.

Chief executive Joshua Schulman said five consecutive quarters of growth and improved quality of sales demonstrate that the strategy is working in what he called an "uncertain environment."

A key driver of the improvement was Greater China, where sales grew 7% in the first half, fuelled by local spending and intraregional tourism.

Both the Bournemouth Echo and The Worcester News, drawing on the same PA report, note that this marks a stronger performance in a "challenging market" where Burberry had previously grappled with waning demand for luxury goods.

Beyond China, the company flagged sales rising by more than a tenth across the Americas and in South Korea — a breadth of growth across regions that suggests the recovery is not resting on a single market.

For followers of the brand, the results mark a notable reversal for a house that has spent recent years battling a luxury downturn.

Schulman struck a confident tone, saying that having laid the foundations for growth he is "more confident than ever" that Burberry will realise the full potential of what he called an "extraordinary British luxury brand."

The PA-reported figures — sustained quarterly growth, an outerwear-led product story and a recovering China — now set the benchmark for whether the turnaround can hold through the crucial holiday trading period, with the trench coat once again positioned as the house's commercial anchor.