TOKYO, JAPAN – Fast Retailing, the parent company of Japanese clothing giant Uniqlo, posted a record full-year net profit Thursday thanks to the weak yen and a rebound in demand after virus lockdowns.
For the year to August 2022, the retail behemoth logged a net profit of $1.86 billion (273 billion yen), but forecast a more modest 230 billion yen for 2022-23.
“Sales recovered steadily in all markets in which we operate thanks to a steady recovery in demand for clothing now that the COVID-19 pandemic is being brought under control,” the company said in a statement.
Efforts to “strengthen global branding”, and mounting an agile response to production and distribution challenges also helped boost profits, it said.
The yen’s dramatic fall – from around 115 against the dollar in February to over 138 in late August – was a boon for the company, which has Uniqlo stores in 25 countries and regions.
But “profits were at record levels both before and after accounting for foreign exchange rate movements”, the firm noted.
Following years of aggressive global expansion, Fast Retailing is one of the world’s biggest clothing retailers, rivaling Spanish giant Inditex, which owns Zara, and Sweden’s H&M.
As well as Uniqlo, it owns the clothing brands Theory, Comptoir des Cotonniers and lingerie label Princesse Tam Tam.
Despite a decline in operating profit in Greater China, where snap lockdowns are still imposed under a zero-Covid policy, global business was brisk, said chief financial officer Takeshi Okazaki.
The company will accelerate the pace of opening new outlets in Europe and North America, said the group’s chairman Tadashi Yanai, who is the richest person in Japan according to Forbes.