Burberry shakes up management

LONDON - British luxury clothing company Burberry Group announced changes to senior management on Thursday, replacing its chief financial officer and creating a new chief operating officer position.

Stacey Cartwright, CFO since 2004, is to step down to pursue other interests and will be replaced by Burberry insider Carol Fairweather, the company said.

Fairweather, who will take over from July, has been with the fashion group for six years. She previously worked at News Corp's British newspaper arm, News International.

At the same time, Burberry said it was creating a new COO role "to support the next phase of growth".

That job will be filled by John Smith, another former media executive. Smith was most recently chief executive of BBC Worldwide, which sells content made by the British licence fee-funded broadcaster to other countries.

Smith will focus on driving the retailer's presence in digital media and mobile technology, it said, as well as looking to save costs and reallocate resources.

Burberry shocked investors last September when it warned of a slowdown in spending, especially in the key luxury goods markets of Asia. But subsequent statements have been more positive, with Christmas sales beating expectations.