Uniqlo owner raises outlook amid profit and sales surge

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has raised its full-year outlook after posting record profits for the third quarter of the year.

In the three months to 31 May, the retailer recorded operating profits of 81.8bn yen (£498m), up 36.5% YOY. The strong performance comes as revenues surged 10.3% to 546.1bn yen (£33bn).

It revealed that strong results in North America and Europe and S/SE Asia and Oceania, helped offset the performance of its Greater China region which reported large declines in revenue and profit after being “hit hard” by Covid-19 restrictions.

As a result Fast Retailing said it expects to generate consolidated revenues of 2.25tn yen (£13.6bn) (+5.5%) and operating profit of 290bn yen (£1.76bn) (+16.5%) in fiscal 2022.

It added that it represents an upward revision of 50bn yen (£304m) for revenues and 20bn yen (£121.6m) for operating profit compared to its previous business estimates announced in April.

It said: “These upward revisions were prompted by the strong third-quarter performance and the fact that performance also exceeded our forecasts in local-currency terms, as well as our decision to revise the assumed foreign exchange rate for our fourth-quarter business estimates to reflect the continued depreciation of the Japanese yen.”