A peek into how quickly demand in China is recovering after the easing of economic bans will be provided by the second-quarter earnings of Japan’s Fast Retailing Co., owner of the apparel line Uniqlo.
The company, which is the largest retailer in Japan, reported a 2 per cent decline in operating profit in the first quarter, in part because COVID-19 limitations in China, its major export market, continued to have an impact. At the end of last year, China removed the majority of the COVID prohibitions, and last month it reopened to travellers.
The size of the wage increases the corporation announced in January will also be a factor that investors consider.
According to the average of seven analyst projections from Refinitiv, Fast Retailing’s operating profit for the three months ending in February is anticipated to increase 30 per cent to 91 billion yen (US $ 682 million).
Analysts predict that profit for the entire year would total 347 billion yen, up 17 per cent from the record earnings set last year.
The company was founded by Tadashi Yanai, Japan’s richest man and with 900 Uniqlo locations in the second-largest economy in the world, China, Fast Retailing Co. will be a leader for global retailers.
Fast Retailing Co. boosted its attention on its North American and European companies over the past three years as COVID regulations slowed down its activities in China.
