Burberry Group plc first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002. The company’s shares were admitted in July following an initial public offering, marking its transition into a publicly traded luxury business.
The listing came after a major corporate repositioning during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Under chief executive Rose Marie Bravo and chairman Victor Barnett, Burberry worked to restore its status as a premium British fashion house and to strengthen control over its international brand.
Burberry had been owned by Great Universal Stores, commonly known as GUS, since 1955. The stock-market listing allowed the group to broaden its investor base, although GUS retained an interest for several years afterward. GUS finally divested its remaining interest in December 2005.
A nearby date can cause confusion: Burberry’s IPO and initial flotation belong to 2002, while the company’s demerger from GUS was completed in 2005. Those are separate corporate milestones. The relevant year for the first London Stock Exchange listing is therefore 2002, not 2005 or 2001.