Japanese fashion brand Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, has posted a record first quarter profit. A huge growth in its foreign sales means they are now larger than its Japanese turnover, for the first time ever.
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Fast Retailing’s first quarter turnover grew 16.7 % compared to the year before, up to 617 billion yen (4.6 billion euro). This resulted in a 117.8 billion yen (880 million euro) pre-tax profit, which is a 13.1 % increase and a company record. In the end, Fast Retailing posted a 78.5 billion yen (nearly 600 million euro) net profit.
Uniqlo Japan’s turnover grew 7.6 % to 257 billion yen (1.9 billion euro), which is lower than the brand’s foreign sales that went up 31.4 % to 258.2 billion yen (1.92 billion euro). Fast Retailing is strongly focused on that foreign expansion: it aims to have more than 1,000 stores in China by 2021, having finished 2017 with about 600. In the near future, Uniqlo also wants to enter the Indian market.
The company is already Asia’s largest fashion retailer, but its ambitious goal is to become the world’s largest fashion retailer, which means it will have to surpass H&M and Inditex.
