The operator of Uniqlo, Japan’s Quick Retailing, is anticipated to publish one other quarter of sturdy earnings on Thursday, however the focus can be on how the worldwide clothes chain navigates a commerce atmosphere thrown into disarray by new US tariffs.
Quick Retailing is anticipated to publish a 14 p.c rise in working revenue to 125.9 billion yen ($866 million) within the three months by way of February from a yr earlier, primarily based on the LSEG consensus forecast drawn from six analysts.
That might be a file for the second quarter and a close to doubling of the 7.4 p.c revenue development of the primary quarter.
From one retailer in Hiroshima, western Japan, 40 years in the past, Uniqlo has grown to greater than 2,500 areas internationally, promoting cheap fleeces and cotton shirts made primarily in China and different Asian manufacturing hubs.
However that enterprise mannequin has been upended by widespread tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump, together with retaliation by a few of America’s buying and selling companions.
The corporate has lately appeared to North America and Europe for development attributable to a slowing financial system in China, its largest abroad shopper market with greater than 900 Uniqlo shops on the mainland.
The tariffs will definitely be a destructive for Quick Retailing, stated unbiased analyst Mark Chadwick, however the measures could have the identical influence on its retail friends and have a worse impact on different industries.
“Textile provide chains are most likely extra versatile than, say auto provide chains,” stated Chadwick, who writes on the Smartkarma platform. “Briefly, US tariffs could have a destructive influence on Quick earnings searching over the subsequent 12 months, however much less so than different international companies like Nintendo, Toyota.”
Shares Retreat After 2024 Bounce
Quick Retailing shares have fallen greater than 4 p.c this month, as Trump laid out his tariffs plan. They’re down 19 p.c in 2025, after surging almost 50 p.c final yr.
Its founder Tadashi Yanai, Japan’s richest man, goals to make his firm the world’s No. 1 clothes model. Yanai, attributable to communicate at Thursday’s earnings briefing, has lengthy been an advocate of free commerce and has defended the corporate’s enterprise dealings in China when human rights issues there have sprung up.
Trump stated Japan could be hit with a 24 p.c reciprocal tariff on non-auto merchandise, whereas duties on Chinese language items will rise to 104 p.c.
UBS analysts stated that Uniqlo items shipped to North America are procured from sources outdoors China, and Quick Retailing’s tariff prices could be an estimated 34.3 billion yen subsequent fiscal yr, curbing enterprise revenue by about 6 p.c.
“We can be watching carefully whether or not a heightened worth consciousness amongst customers leads them to re-rate the stability between worth and pricing at Uniqlo, doubtlessly translating into enterprise alternatives over the medium time period,” UBS’s Takahiro Kazahaya wrote in a report this week.
Quick Retailing expects working revenue to achieve 530 billion yen within the fiscal yr ending in August, which might be a fourth straight yr of file earnings.
Home gross sales have lately gotten a lift from a surge in duty-free purchasing amid a tourism growth in Japan fuelled by a weak yen.
By Rocky Swift; Editor: Muralikumar Anantharaman
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