The Japanese owner of clothing chain Uniqlo today said overseas growth will help it increase profits by 34% in the coming year.
Fast Retailing, the Japanese giant that also owns labels Theory and Helmut Lang, reported profit down 29% to 74.5 billion yen (£428 million) in the year to the end of August with sales up 21% to 1.38 trillion yen.
But it forecast the current financial year will be strong as sales grow overseas and it expects profit of 100 billion yen and sales up 16% to 1.6 trillion yen.
Currently more than half of its revenue comes from Japan.
Chief Executive Tadashi Yanai, Japan’s richest man, has a sales goal of 5 trillion yen by 2020 with an operating profit of 1 trillion yen and plans to roughly double sales to 2.5 trillion yen in three years.
He said his medium-term vision is for the group to become the “world’s number one apparel manufacturer and retailer” to rival H&M and Zara owner Inditex. He plans to achieve this by “globalization, strengthening our overall group management, and reigniting our entrepreneurial spirit.”
He is focused on rolling out Uniqlo worldwide.
