June 16 - British luxury fashion brand Mulberry beat forecasts with a leap in year profit as the well-heeled snapped up its leather goods both in the UK and overseas.

Mulberry 2011 campaign

"Strong demand in all markets has continued into the new financial year and the outlook for the Mulberry brand is positive," said Chairman and Chief Executive Godfrey Davis.

The firm, which designs, manufactures and sells leather goods and accessories and is best known for its handbags priced around 500-900 pounds, said on Wednesday it made a pretax profit of 23.3 million pounds ($38.1 million) in the year to March 31.

That compares with analysts' average forecast of 21.5 million pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data, and 5.1 million pounds made in 2009-10.

Revenue increased 69 percent to 121.6 million pounds, with retail sales up 44 percent and wholesale sales up 130 percent.

Mulberry said retail sales were up 38 percent in the 10 weeks to June 4, while Autumn/Winter wholesale sales were also 38 percent ahead.

"While we remain cautious about the global economic environment, we are focused on accelerating our international expansion," added Davis.

The firm is paying a dividend of 4 pence, up 82 percent.

Shares in Mulberry, which have risen nearly sixfold over the last year, closed Wednesday at 1,350 pence, valuing the business at 799 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Mark Potter)