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By Kosaku Narioka
Fast Retailing shares rose sharply after the owner of apparel retailer Uniqlo posted a record annual net profit thanks to stronger global sales and projected further earnings growth ahead.
The company’s shares were recently 5.4% higher at 35,560 yen on Friday morning after rising as much as 6.2% earlier.
Fast Retailing said Thursday after market close that net profit climbed 8.4% to a record high of Y296.23 billion ($1.98 billion) in the fiscal year ended Aug. 31.
Uniqlo’s operating profit for North America surged 92% and that for Europe, excluding Russia, climbed 82.5%, helping the company diversify the source of its earnings away from its previous reliance on Japan and China.
Fourth-quarter net profit was Y57.71 billion, given net profit of Y238.52 billion in the preceding nine months, according to a Wall Street Journal calculation. That beat the estimate of Y25.07 billion taken from a poll of analysts by FactSet.
Fiscal-year revenue grew 20% to Y2.767 trillion, driven by sales growth across the world.
The company forecast that net profit would to increase 4.6% to Y310.00 billion in the new fiscal year and that revenue would rise 10% to Y3.050 trillion as it plans to open more Uniqlo stores overseas.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
