Japanese apparel retailer Fast Retailing has raised its full year outlook after its first quarter net profit jumped.

The Uniqlo operator has achieved a net profit of 38.47 billion yen (US$436.4 million) for the three months to November, a rise of 24 per cent from last year’s 31.15 billion yen. Sales rose 17 per cent to 318.14 billion from 272.69 billion a year earlier.

Fast Retailing said strong sales were driven by the brisk sales of Uniqlo winter clothing and price cuts in Japan. Strong sales were also recorded in overseas markets including China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Buoyed by the strong financial performance, Fast Retailing has raised its outlook for the year to August. It expects net profit to increase to 87 billion yen (US$987 million) from 84.5 billion yen last year.

“Our previous outlook for the overseas Uniqlo business was conservative based on expectations for an economic slowdown in China and South Korea especially, but saw better than expected results across Asia and this is why we are upgrading our full-year outlook,” said Fast Retailing CFO Takeshi Okazaki.

Other brands under the stable of Fast Retailing also saw growth like g.u. brand which generated an operating profit of 6.2 billion yen, a rise of 16.6 per cent.

The company, run by Tadashi Yanai, aims to achieve 5 trillion yen sales by 2020.

GB