The US retail group Urban Outfitters Inc. was also able to increase its sales in the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year and set another record. However, the profit was significantly below the corresponding level of the previous year and missed the market expectations. That’s according to the latest figures released Tuesday night by the parent company of the concepts Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, FP Movement, Terrain, Nuuly and Menus & Venues.
Accordingly, the group generated sales of 1.05 billion US dollars (986.0 million euros) in the months of February to April, which corresponded to an increase of 13.4 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In own retail, sales grew by 12.4 percent to USD 963.4 million, with the share of sales from stationary business increasing significantly at the expense of e-commerce due to the discontinuation of the Covid 19 protective measures. On a like-for-like basis, the Anthropologie Group (+18 percent) and Free People Group (+15 percent) posted strong gains, while the Urban Outfitters (+1 percent) concept fell short of expectations. Wholesale sales increased 5.7 percent to $65.7 million, while the Nuuly segment, which includes a fashion rental service and second-hand business, nearly tripled sales to $22.8 million -Dollar.
Despite the new sales record, profits shrank. The company blamed the recently exceptionally high transport and material costs for this. The operating result fell compared to the same quarter last year by 37.1 percent to 46.2 million US dollars. Net income fell 41.1 percent to $31.5 million