Burberry hires Bloomberg journalist Andrew Roberts to top PR role

Roberts, who joined the FTSE100-listed company in September, succeeds Julian Payne, who became director of comms for The Prince of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall in July.

Roberts’ job title is vice president, corporate relations. Before joining Burberry, he spent almost seven years as a European luxury goods & consumer reporter at Bloomberg, based in France.

He previously worked in Italy as a reporter on Women’s Wear Daily and as a reporter for the Associated Press.

London-headquartered Burberry employs around 11,000 people globally.

It saw pre-tax profit dip from £456m to £421m in the year to 31 March 2016 as revenue declined slightly to £2.5bn, with the company citing factors such as the slowdown of the Chinese economy, uncertainty in the Eurozone and currency volatility. However, this morning the company unveiled a five per cent rise in revenues for the six months to 30 September, aided by the falling pound.

Payne had joined Burberry in April 2014 from the BBC, where his roles included acting director of communications and head of BBC press and media relations.