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Japan's Uniqlo booms despite recession
AFP - Friday, October 9
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TOKYO (AFP) - – The operator of Japan's Uniqlo on Thursday announced record annual profits, boosting its ambitious drive to become the world's top retailer of cheap-chic clothing.
The company, which aims to be bigger than foreign rivals Gap, Zara and H&M, predicted another strong year as it lures cost-conscious shoppers during the economic slump.
Fast Retailing, the empire founded by Japanese billionaire Tadashi Yanai, said its operating profit jumped 24.2 percent in the year to August to a record 108.6 billion yen (1.2 billion dollars).
Revenue soared 16.8 percent to an all-time high 685.0 billion yen, helped by an improved line-up for women and an expansion in its operations across Asia, it said. Net profit rose 14.4 percent to 49.8 billion yen.
"We were able to win global recognition as a new brand that is different from H&M, Zara or Gap," Yanai told reporters.
The company is chasing a seven-fold increase in sales to five trillion yen (54 billion dollars) by 2020, which is estimated to be more than the combined sales of the three foreign rivals.
While the global financial crisis has battered luxury brands and even forced some to exit Japan, spendthrift consumers have flocked to Fast Retailing's stores to snap up 10-dollar jeans or 60-dollar cashmere sweaters.
Earlier this year Uniqlo brought German minimalist designer Jil Sander on board as creative director.
The group "continues to benefit from consumers trading down to stylish yet inexpensive casual wear," Macquarie Securities analyst Robert Burghart wrote in a recent note.
"Fast Retailing has modified its sales and distribution strategy to accommodate Japan's demographic and economic realities," he added.
Uniqlo recently opened a new flagship store in Paris to add to existing stores in New York and London. It plans to open a new flagship store in Shanghai early next year, along with its first outlet in Moscow.
The group, which owns the Theory and Comptoir des Cotonniers brands, forecast a net profit of 62 billion yen, an operating profit of 120 billion and revenue of 798 billion for the current business year to August 2010.
Yanai transformed his father's tiny clothing store in southern Hiroshima into one of the world's biggest retailers, making him Japan's richest man, according to Forbes magazine.
He told a British newspaper this year that a bid for Gap was "not such a crazy idea" and said last month his company could secure more than 400 billion yen for acquisitions.
With nearly 90 percent of its 875 Uniqlo stores located in Japan, the group is increasingly looking overseas due to a rapidly greying population at home.
"In Europe and North America, we will buy companies that will provide a platform for Uniqlo. We won't be able to expand on a global scale unless we have M&A (mergers and acquisitions)," Yanai said on Thursday.
The group made an unsuccessful attempt in 2007 to buy the prestigious New York department store Barneys, declining to match a 942-million-dollar offer from a Dubai investment firm.
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