Fast Retailing Group announces first half sale and income for the first half of fiscal 2013, or the six months from September 2012 through February 2013.
Group Performance:
The Fast Retailing Group achieved considerable gains in both sales and income in the first half of fiscal 2013, or the six months from September 2012 through February 2013. Sales rose 17.0% year on year to ¥ 614.8bln, operating income increased by 5.3% to ¥ 96.6bln, ordinary income rose 15.2% to ¥ 107.7bln and net income expanded by 13.8% to ¥ 65.4bln.
UNIQLO International and Global Brands reported gains in both sales and income in the first half, while UNIQLO Japan reported a rise in sales but a fall in profit over the six-month period.
UNIQLO Japan:
Sales increased while profit contracted in the first half, with sales rising 6.2% year on year to ¥ 387.2bln and operating income contracting by 4.5% to ¥ 69.8bln. While same-store sales expanded by 3.6% year on year, a contraction in the gross profit margin led to the fall in first half profits at UNIQLO Japan.
As a result, we have revised our full-year forecasts for UNIQLO Japan. We have revised up the fiscal 2013 sales estimate by ¥ 20.0bln to ¥ 673.0bln (+8.5% y/y). By strengthening control over our gross profit to sales margin, we do expect to generate a profit gain in fiscal 2013. But, in light of the ¥ 3.0bln shortfall in operating income in the first half, we have adjusted our full-year operating income estimate to ¥ 106.0bln (+3.6% y/y).
UNIQLO International:
This segment reported significant gains in sales and income in the first half, with sales rising 54.0% to ¥ 130.6bln and operating income expanding by 39.8% to ¥ 16.0bln. China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and other parts of Asia generated especially strong gains in both sales and income.
UNIQLO USA and UNIQLO Europe performed to plan in the first half. After sales outstripped our January estimate by ¥ 5.0bln in the first half, we have revised up our full-year forecasts for UNIQLO International.
We now predict sales will increase by 52.8% year on year to ¥ 234.0bln and operating income by an impressive 81.8% to ¥ 20.0bln. We expect the total number of UNIQLO stores outside of Japan to rise rapidly to 441 stores by the end of August 2013, an increase of 149 stores from the end of August 2012.
Global Brands:
GU generated double-digit growth in both sales and income as expected in the six months to February 2013. Theory also performed to plan, but rising business expenses in the United States dampened profits marginally.
We have revised our full-year forecasts for the Global Brands segment to incorporate performance estimates for the newly consolidated premium denim label, J Brand. We now expect Global Brands will generate sales of ¥ 194.0bln (+26.8% y/y) and operating income of ¥ 18.5bln (+27.2%) in fiscal 2013.
