Abercrombie and Fitch sales rise 16% amid modest 2025 expectations

Abercrombie and Fitch has revealed that its net sales increased 16% to $4.95bn (£3.85bn) for the year ended 1 February 2025.

It comes as the clothing retailer also saw its operating income rise 15% year-on-year to $740.8m (£575.5m).

Despite this, the company has set modest expectations for 2025 as it expects net sales growth of between 3% and 5%, which is below analysts’ expectations of 6.8%, furthermore the company expects its operating margins to be between 14% and 15%.

The company revealed that its net sales grew by 12% to $599m (£770m), in the EMEA region, the second-fastest growing global segment after the Americas. The retailer said that this came amid a competitive retail environment in the UK.

In Q4 alone, the American retailer reported a 9% increase in net sales to $1.58bn (£1.24bn) , with comparable sales up 14%. Abercrombie’s comparable sales grew by just 5%, while Hollister performed better, with a 24% increase in comparable sales.

Despite the modest expectations, the company is still hoping to expand its UK store estate with plans to open between eight and 10 new stores by the end of 2025.

Fran Horowitz, CEO, said: “In fiscal 2024, we once again delivered on our commitments to our global customers and shareholders. We entered the fiscal year with the goal of achieving sustainable, profitable growth on top of a defining fiscal 2023, and our collective effort and focus produced results well beyond our initial expectations.

“We grew net sales 16% to nearly $5bn while expanding operating margin to 15%, with operating income and EPS growth of 53% and 72%, respectively. We enter fiscal 2025 with highly relevant brands, an agile playbook, and a motivated global team driven by a culture of innovation and growth.”

He added: “Our expectation in 2025 is to build on the past two years of outstanding results and again deliver profitable growth while strengthening our brands and operating model.”