Uniqlo Asia helps the parent’s sales power record quarter

Solid overseas growth helped Japanese apparel retailer Fast Retailing post a record quarterly profit.

Uniqlo Asia sales proved the star of the business.

For the three months to May, Fast Retailing’s operating profit was 68.4 billion yen (US$608 million), 37 per cent ahead of a year ago. Overseas sales exceeded domestic sales for the third consecutive quarter.

For the first nine months trading, overseas sales rose 28 per cent year on year and overseas operating profit lept 65 per cent, driven largely by Asian sales of its largest retail brand, Uniqlo.

In Japan, sales rose 8 per cent for the first nine months of the year, despite a static store count of just over 800. Online sales there rose 33 per cent and now account for 7.8 per cent of domestic sales.

Fast Retailing’s relatively new value chain GU increased sales by 6 per cent in the nine months, but discounting saw operating profit fall by 20 per cent in the latest quarter.