LONDON — The next months could be golden ones for Burberry, which has been making strides under chief executive officer Joshua Schulman, who took over last summer when the company was living through some of the darkest days in its history.

Last September, shortly after Schulman joined, Burberry fell out of the FTSE 100 index of blue chip stocks on the London Stock Exchange due to its shrinking valuation.

Six months later, in March, the company registered an operating loss of 3 million pounds, and a 17 percent drop in revenue for fiscal 2024-25. It had been a brutal year, with luxury demand still tepid and Burberry dealing with the fallout from a previous, ill-fated plan to go upmarket too quickly.

The company was in a rut, and it was going to take a heavy-duty excavator to get it out. Schulman, an optimist as well as an experienced fashion and luxury goods executive, shifted that earth-moving machine into high gear, and quickly began turning the brand’s fortunes around.

It is possible that Burberry could rejoin the FTSE 100 as early as September on the back of a steady recovery in the share price, which is up nearly 70 percent over the past year.

Even if Burberry has to wait a few more months to join the blue chip index, there is no doubt the recovery has begun.

In July, after a yearlong absence, Burberry made a comeback on the shopping platform Lyst’s ranking of hottest brands. In the second quarter of 2025, Burberry landed in 17th place, ahead of Gucci, Birkenstock and Valentino.

Lyst said Burberry’s return was the result of a resurgent “cool Britannia” vibe, a strong festival campaign and a growing demand for its menswear offering.

Crucially, the banks are turning bullish on Burberry, which successfully stemmed the double-digit sales declines of the past year and outstripped growth expectations for the first fiscal quarter.

In the three months to June 30, comparable store sales were down 1 percent, compared with analysts’ projections of a 3 percent decline. In the corresponding quarter last year, comparable store sales were down 21 percent.

They also like Schulman’s “Burberry Forward” plan, which is aimed at rebuilding sales, margins and cashflow.

“The question for us is not whether Burberry will come back, but the magnitude to which it will, and how much investors are ready to pay for it,” the HSBC said in a report in July, two days after Burberry posted promising first-quarter results.

HSBC called its report “Knight Fever,” in reference to Burberry’s historic logo and the Bee Gees disco hit, and said the brand “has suddenly gone onto the radar of many consumers who may have forgotten about [it], and others who are just starting to discover it.”

The bank added that with the impetus of a renewed management team and actions taken by Schulman, “product initiatives, media campaigns and merchandising actions have landed well. Is Burberry booming yet? Not really, as the bulk of refreshed products should start to move the needle significantly” in the second fiscal half, which ends in March 2026.

But “there are clear signs of life,” HSBC argued. “Naysayers wondering if the brand could ever come back already have a hint, and should get proof shortly, as we believe growth should be visible as early as the current quarter,” it added, referring to Burberry’s fiscal second fiscal quarter, which ends Sept. 30.

Citi, meanwhile, speculated that Burberry’s underlying retail sales “could turn positive” in the second fiscal quarter, and for the first time in two years.

The “execution is on track, with new [fall and spring] collections and a wider pricing architecture delivered to stores over the next three quarters to reignite brand desirability,” Citi said.

Analysts also like Burberry’s fiscal discipline. In May, the company unveiled an enriched cost-savings plan that could see 20 percent of its workforce eliminated by 2027. The plan is aimed at unlocking 100 million pounds by fiscal 2027, in addition to the 40 million pounds in cost savings target revealed last year.

Schulman also has a strong commercial strategy with “timeless British luxury” at its core.

He’s added more accessible prices (at a time when luxury goods competitors have been raising theirs); put a focus on brand heroes such as the check, scarf and trench (instead of obsessing over expensive leather handbags), and embraced a wide variety of customers with stylish hotel takeovers, collaborations and ad campaigns featuring famous Brits such as Kate Winslet, Olivia Colman and the extended Jagger clan.

No one is more surprised about Burberry’s progress than Schulman himself. In May, he told analysts: “If you had asked me 12 months ago where we would be today, I wouldn’t have imagined the amount of progress that this exceptional team has been making.”

He added that “it’s early days, and it’s a tough macro, but we are really starting to see the potential of what lies ahead. We’re taking things step by step, but we are optimistic about the quarters ahead and optimistic about the business in general.”

Schulman is also confident about the future of Burberry’s creative director, Daniel Lee. Earlier this year the CEO quashed persistent rumors that Lee was on his way out the door.

“Daniel and I are committed together to moving Burberry forward,” Schulman told WWD in May. He added that the designer, who joined Burberry in 2022, has been delivering “an extraordinary expression of timeless British luxury.”

After so many months of drama, that teamwork is something to shout about.