Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing raises its forecast for 2025/2026

On Thursday, Japanese ready-to-wear giant Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, raised its profit and revenue forecasts for its 2025/26 fiscal year. The company cited robust profits for the September-November period and a turnaround in the Chinese market.

The Japanese apparel giant had achieved its fourth consecutive year of record profits in its 2024/25 fiscal year, which ended in late August. It has significantly accelerated its international expansion beyond Japan since the downturn of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It now forecasts an operating profit of 650 billion yen (three billion pounds) for the 2025/26 fiscal year, which began in September, up from 610 billion previously. A net profit of 450 billion yen is also expected, up from the previous forecast of 435 billion.

Sales are expected to increase by approximately 11.7 percent for the year to reach 3,800 billion yen, a forecast that has also been revised upwards.

This improvement comes despite persistent uncertainties related to US tariffs. According to Fast Retailing, it reflects “robust global growth in all regions”.

This includes a turnaround in China, its largest market outside of Japan. While its sales and profits had declined there in the previous fiscal year, Uniqlo International now reports a rebound in revenue for the first quarter (September-November). It also reports “double-digit” profit growth in mainland China.

The group states it benefited from the arrival of cold weather in the country from late October; a revised marketing strategy; and the acquisition of new customers through a partnership with local e-commerce leader JD.com.

Meanwhile, Uniqlo also reports “double-digit” growth in sales and profits for the first quarter in North America and Europe. The company states that its brand awareness has increased in these two regions “thanks to the opening of new stores”, particularly in the UK and Germany.

As a result, in the first quarter from September to November, Fast Retailing saw its revenue increase by 14.8 percent year-over-year to 1,028 billion yen. This was well above the median estimate of 990 billion yen from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Its net profit jumped by 11.7 percent to 147.4 billion yen, compared to the 130.1 billion yen expected by the market.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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