Japan's Fast Retailing expects record net profit this year on increased sales in key markets
Source: Xinhua | 2020-10-16
Fast Retailing Co., owner of the Uniqlo and GU casual clothing brands, said Thursday it expects to book a record net profit this fiscal year, on increasing sale in some vital markets.
In the year ended August, the retailing firm logged a 44.4 percent drop to 90.36 billion yen (858.83 million U.S. dollars), due to falling patronage amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, it said.
Fast Retailing Co. said that for the current business year through August 2021, however, it projects a net profit of 165 billion yen (1.56 billion U.S. dollars), which is a leap of 82.6 percent from the previous year.
The company said it forecasts sales to climb 9.5 percent to 2.2 trillion yen (20.91 billion yen).
Fast Retailing said it will continue to focus on its solid footing in the Chinese market as well as further promote its online footprint, the services of which have seen robust growth during the pandemic.
"The pandemic is a global crisis, but for us, it has become a turning point," Fast Retailing Chairman and CEO Tadashi Yanai was quoted as telling a press briefing on the matter.
In China, Fast Retailing had 767 stores as of August in the mainland, roughly the same number of stores as Japan. But given its growth potential, "it's possible to aim for 3,000 stores in China," Yanai said.
Sales in China saw a stronger-than-expected recovery towards the end of the last fiscal year, Fast Retailing said, due to the world's second-largest economy's quick overall recovery from the pandemic.
But sales in the firm's other overseas markets like the United States and Europe were hit harder by the virus, with the firm's business still hampered in many foreign markets, it said.
Busiunion
Busiunion