The US clothing group Abercrombie & Fitch Co. set a new sales record in the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year. However, the result decreased.
According to a statement published on Wednesday, sales in the 13 weeks to May 2 were around $1.11 billion (957 million euros). This exceeded the level of the previous year’s quarter by two percent and reached a new high in the company’s history. However, adjusted for exchange rate changes, revenue fell by one percent.
The company owed the small increase to its Abercrombie division, whose sales increased by three percent to $564.7 million. Adjusted for currency effects, it remained almost unchanged compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the Hollister segment, revenues of $549.1 million were slightly below the corresponding previous year’s level. Adjusted for currency effects, they fell by two percent.
The effects of the Iran war are slowing sales development
Group sales in America developed positively. There it rose by three percent (currency-adjusted +1 percent) to $899.9 million. The Asia-Pacific region developed even more dynamically, with an increase of 24 percent (+15 percent adjusted for currency effects) to 46.5 million US dollars.
However, there was a downward trend in the EMEA region, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Sales there fell by ten percent (-11 percent adjusted for currency effects) to $167.4 million. The company justified the losses, among other things, by saying that the effects of the Iran war had burdened demand in the region. The Hollister division was particularly affected.
The annual forecasts remain unchanged
Higher operating expenses weighed on earnings. Operating profit fell by 12.5 percent to $88.8 million. The net profit attributable to shareholders fell by 16.5 percent to 67.1 million US dollars (57.7 million euros), but still exceeded expectations.
The latest figures gave management no reason to change its annual forecasts. For 2026/27, the group continues to expect sales growth of three to five percent, an operating margin in the range of 12.0 to 12.5 percent and diluted earnings per share of between 10.20 and 11.00 US dollars.
