Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Burberry Group Plc, Britain’s largest luxury-goods company, may accelerate plans to open U.S. stores as premium shop space becomes available at cheaper prices, Chief Financial Officer Stacey Cartwright said.

“Spaces we thought may not have been available a couple of years ago are available now,” Cartwright, 45, said in a phone interview in London. Property is available with rent-free periods, landlords are offering to pay some store-decoration costs and space in better locations is opening up, she said.

Cartwright cited a new outlet in Indianapolis’s Keystone fashion mall, which also houses Saks Inc. and Tiffany & Co. outlets and signed Burberry to fill a space formerly occupied by bankrupt gadget seller Sharper Image Corp. The U.S. is an “under-penetrated” market for Burberry, Cartwright said. The brand’s sales in the Americas are growing faster than any other region as the appeal of its plaid patterns, British heritage and Brit perfume resists the recession in the U.S.

“They are behind in geographical presence compared to all the main players like LVMH, so to expand in the U.S. market makes sense,” Alessandra Coppola, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research in London said by phone. She has a “hold” recommendation on Burberry shares.

Burberry, known for its trench coats, may open more than the five stores previously forecast for the Americas this year, according to Cartwright. She wouldn’t specify where the extra stores may be located. The Americas account for about 27 percent of Burberry’s sales, compared with about 37 percent for Europe.

Madison Avenue

The retailer’s new U.S. flagship at 444 Madison Avenue in New York, where three 50-foot neon signs light the skyline with the Burberry logo, was secured at “nice, favorable terms,” Cartwright said, without elaborating.

The art-deco building, formerly home to the magazine Newsweek Inc., is owned by a private-equity fund run by Westbrook Partners LLC. A standalone Burberry Brit shop offering lower- priced products and more casual attire will open on one side of the building in November, Cartwright said.

Burberry shares have more than doubled this year and posted the steepest increase in the 13-member Bloomberg European Fashion Index, which has gained 41 percent. Today they added 14.5 pence, or 3.1 percent, to 488.2 pence in London.

More Americans with incomes greater than $250,000 bought Burberry’s fashions in the second quarter, according to Unity Marketing. The U.S.-based market research firm said 14 percent of wealthy consumers bought the luxury brand in the period, compared with 6 percent in the first quarter.

“Spending on luxury fashion and apparel is becoming more concentrated in the ultra-affluent,” Unity President Pam Danziger said by phone. Typically, these customers shop in standalone outlets, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Shannon in London at sshannon4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 4, 2009 13:34 EDT