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* To pay all staff during pandemic
* Will not use British state furlough scheme
* Continues to look hard at cost base
* Directors take 20% pay cut
* Shares down 2.7%
(Adds details, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Luxury brand Burberry
will pay all its staff globally even if they are unable to work
due to coronavirus crisis store or site closures, adding on
Friday it will not tap a government support scheme in Britain.
With Britain in a pandemic lockdown many retailers,
including Marks & Spencer, Next and Philip
Green's Arcadia group, have taken advantage of the state job
retention scheme, which sees employees paid 80% of their salary.
The 164-year-old Burberry, which warned last month its
fourth quarter sales would fall 30%, said it was continuing to
reduce spending on non-essential areas.
It said its senior leaders and directors, including chief
designer Riccardo Tisci and chief executive Marco Gobbetti will
take a voluntary 20% pay cut from April through June, with the
directors' cut donated to a charity fund.
Famed for its trench coats and check scarves, Burberry
employs 3,500 out of a total global workforce of 10,000 in
Britain, where it has donated more than 100,000 pieces of
personal protection equipment (PPE).
Burberry has turned over its factory in Castleford, northern
England, to make protective gowns for healthcare workers and is
sourcing surgical masks through its supply chain for Britain's
health service and charities such as Marie Curie.
A spokesman said Burberry, which has stores in 33 countries
but only those in China and South Korea have re-opened, felt
that not taking a government subsidy for jobs in Britain "was
the right thing to do at this moment in time".
"The decision does not change our commitment to protecting
jobs and supporting the relief efforts during this global health
emergency," the spokesman added.
Shares in Burberry, which as of last month had 600 million
pounds ($739 million) of cash and a 300 million pound revolving
credit facility, were down 2.8% at 1038 GMT.
The company, whose shares are down 41% in 2020, also pushed
back publication of its final results from May 14 to May 22.
($1 = 0.8118 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle, Sarah Young
and Alexander Smith)
