Burberry has come a long way since it fretted a decade ago that the downmarket appeal of its check designs was damaging its image. These days the Burberry story is all about growth in Asia (especially China, which now accounts for 11 per cent of sales) and a move upmarket (the top-end Prorsum and London ranges make up 45 per cent of clothing sales in Burberry stores). That has kept the shares going since the financial crisis – last September the rating hit 24 times forecast earnings.

Yesterday’s profit warning, which pushed the shares down a fifth, showed that the strategy is not without risks. Same-store sales growth, which was in the teens through 2011 and early 2012, had already slowed to 6 per cent in the three months to June and has now hit zero. The next stop is contraction, although comparables get easier for the rest of the year.

Burberry has not helped itself by being light on detail. All it would say was that the slowdown had been recent and broad based, and that its statement had sacrificed colour for speed. Perhaps, but a company with annual revenues of ￡2bn should have a little more visibility about where things are going right and wrong, and should know better than to leave the market to dream up worst-case scenarios.