Uniqlo owner chalks up record 273b yen profit

Japan's Fast Retailing (6288), owner of clothing brand Uniqlo, recorded a 60.9 percent increase in net profit of 273.3 billion yen (HK$14.6 billion) in the 12 months through August, the highest amount ever.

The company's revenue also rose 7.9 percent year-on-year to 2.3 trillion yen, with the operating profit recording a 19.4 percent increase to 297.3 billion yen, compared with 249 billion a year earlier.

The new high is boosted by a decline in the yen and a steady recovery in demand for clothing as people gradually learned to live with the pandemic, the company said.

It had a 114.3 billion yen foreign exchange gain as Japan's currency depreciated, taking 98 percent of its finance income, net of costs. The yen exchange rate against the US dollar weakened by about 29 yen over the fiscal year to the period end rate of 138.7 yen.

The company's core brand Uniqlo's international business saw a 20.3 percent increase in revenue to 1.1 trillion yen year-on-year, and a 42.4 percent increase in its operating profit to 158.3 billion yen, driven by the weakening yen, the company said.

Fast Retailing also saw a slight increase in sales of Uniqlo in mainland China for the year while operating profit slid 17 percent amid stringent Covid-related controls. Sales picked up in the region from the fourth quarter as the curbs were eased, the company said, revealing that it is overcoming lingering weakness in the Chinese market.

China is the company's biggest overseas market by far, with almost 900 Uniqlo stores in the mainland. Fast Retailing expects large sales and profit gains there in the second half of next year as Covid curbs relax, and it is sticking to a plan to open 100 stores annually in Greater China.