Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Burberry Group Plc rose as much as 5.8 percent in London trading after Chief Executive Officer Angela Ahrendts said the clothing maker’s U.K. business has been “on fire” as demand for luxury goods improves.

Burberry gained as much as 27.4 pence to 504 pence, the steepest intraday advance since Aug. 20. The shares traded at 489.9 pence as of 8:36 a.m. U.K. time.

“Our U.K. business has been on fire for quite a while now,” Ahrendts said in an interview late yesterday at London Fashion Week. The CEO said the luxury market “can only get better” as the anniversary of the financial crisis passes.

Burberry, the U.K.’s largest luxury-goods maker, showed its catwalk collection in the English capital for the first time yesterday, rather than in Milan, to highlight its British heritage. The company, known for its iconic trench coats, unveiled its high-end Prorsum collection by creative director Christopher Bailey, as well as streaming it live on the Internet.

Burberry shares have more than doubled this year, the best performance on the 13-member Bloomberg European Fashion Index.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Shannon in London at sshannon4@bloomberg.net; Paul Jarvis at pjarvis@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 23, 2009 03:42 EDT