By Kosaku Narioka
Fast Retailing shares surged to a record intraday high after the company reported strong quarterly earnings and raised its annual profit guidance.
Shares were recently 7.3% higher at 60,830 yen, equivalent to $387.77, in Tokyo Friday morning after hitting Y61,580 earlier, an all-time intraday high. The stock has posted a daily percentage gain of more than 7% only three times in the past three years.
The Japanese owner of Uniqlo said after Thursday's market close that net profit increased 12% on the year to Y147.45 billion for the three months ended November. That exceeded the Y132.0 billion consensus estimate of analysts polled by Visible Alpha.
The company now expects annual net profit to increase 3.9% to Y450.00 billion for the fiscal year ending August, up from its previous forecast of Y435.00 billion.
The Uniqlo owner said first-quarter revenue and profit rose globally. Backed by strong sales, Uniqlo in the U.S. offset the impact of U.S. tariffs by limiting discounts and raising prices on some products.
In Europe, new store openings in cities such as Glasgow and Birmingham in the U.K. and Munich and Frankfurt in Germany proved a big success.
In China, a key market where profit fell in the previous fiscal year, a tie-up with e-commerce giant JD.com helped increase online customer numbers and raise earnings.
Chief Financial Officer Takeshi Okazaki said at a briefing Thursday that there might be an impact on Chinese sales after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's recent comments on Taiwan, but added that the company's ability to meet customer demand and weather conditions were more important driver of earnings.
Tensions with Beijing have been simmering after Takaichi said in November that Japan could be dragged into a conflict to defend itself or its allies, such as the U.S., if China attacked Taiwan.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-08-26 2019ET
