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Uniqlo defies sluggish China market with double-digit profit growth

Parent company Fast Retailing shrugs off a 0.6 per cent drop in China’s total retail sales amid frayed Beijing-Tokyo ties

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The logo of the Fast Retailing clothing brand Uniqlo outside a branch in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Zhu Wenqianin Beijing
Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo posted higher revenue and double-digit profit growth in mainland China over the three-month period ending in May, defying sluggish domestic consumption and lingering bilateral tensions.

Same-store sales rose, driven by enhanced marketing and “buoyant demand” for summer products in May, when temperatures started to rise. Easy pants, UV-protection items, T-shirts and other summer products all saw strong sales, according to the earnings report from Fast Retailing, the parent of Uniqlo, released on Thursday.

As the group’s second-largest market globally after Japan, Greater China – including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – recorded 510.5 billion Japanese yen (US$3.1 billion) in revenue for the nine-month period ending in May, accounting for 19.5 per cent of its global sales.

Chinese authorities issued a travel warning in November urging its citizens to avoid visiting Japan, after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi upset Beijing with her comments on Taiwan. A large number of flights have been cancelled between the two countries since.
Meanwhile, China’s total retail sales reached 4.1 trillion yuan (US$602.9 billion) in May, down 0.6 per cent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Fast Retailing also reported significant revenue and profit growth in the nine-month period. It saw sales reach 3.1 trillion Japanese yen, up 17.1 per cent year on year, and net profit came in at 426 billion Japanese yen, up 25.6 per cent year on year, according to its business results.

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