Uniqlo now sells more in Europe and North America combined than in Greater China. That has never happened before. Fleece and plain tees, taking Paris and Toronto. Somebody owes Tadashi Yanai an apology. It's Thursday, and you're listening to Fashion Business Daily. Fast Retailing posts a fifth straight record year, ANTA closes on its Puma stake, Levi's direct business trips over a back-to-school campaign, and Canada's Weston family buys Boots.
The BigGo editorial team, writing up Fast Retailing's earnings call:
In terms of revenue mix, North America and Europe accounted for 36.4%, South Korea, Southeast Asia, India & Australia for 33.6%, and Greater China for 30.0%. The combined total of North America and Europe surpassed Greater China for the first time, overtaking the region that includes mainland China — previously viewed as the company's largest profit source — and clearly demonstrating a shift in the company's growth structure.
These are company-reported figures for the year to August, released today. Revenue rose 16.6 percent to 3.96 trillion yen, and business profit climbed 30.4 percent to 718.4 billion. Europe was the standout, with revenue up 38.7 percent and business profit up 69. North America grew revenue almost 35 percent. This is my whole argument. Nobody at Uniqlo cost-cut their way here. They make a decent fleece at a fair price, and people keep coming back for the next one. The soft spots matter, though. Mainland China grew only about 3 percent in local currency, even if profit there rose around 18. Japan's same-store sales fell 4 percent in the fourth quarter on cool weather and typhoons, then jumped 10.8 percent in September. And GU slipped to a fourth-quarter loss. GU is the one I'm watching. Francesco Risso is redoing the entire lineup, and Yanai says the brand has potential surpassing Uniqlo. Bold claim for a brand coming off a quarter in the red. Read the guidance too. For fiscal 2027 the company sees revenue of 4.45 trillion yen and business profit up 15.5 percent, but net profit up just 3.2. Against its own July forecast, revenue landed a touch light while business profit beat. A record year, with a much slower bottom line pencilled in for the next one.
SGB Executive, in SGB Media Online:
The investment comes as Puma is undergoing a multi-year turnaround led by CEO and former Adidas exec Arthur Hoeld with a focus on reducing discounting, streamlining products and direct-to-consumer. Puma lost $645.5 million in 2025 as sales fell 8.1 percent on a currency-neutral basis.
The deal closed Wednesday. ANTA Sports paid 1.5055 billion euros in cash for the 29.06 percent of Puma held by Artémis, the Pinault family's holding company. It was agreed in January and has now cleared regulators. ANTA says it will seek adequate representation on Puma's supervisory board and currently has no plans for a takeover offer. 'Currently.' Look at what ANTA already runs: Fila in China, Descente, Jack Wolfskin, and it's the largest shareholder in Amer Sports, so Arc'teryx and Salomon. This group knows how to make an outdoor brand hot. Puma could use some of that. Both sides lean hard on independence. Puma says it stays independently managed. ANTA chairman Ding Shizhong says the help will come mainly in retail and operations. Hoeld calls the stake a vote of confidence on the road to becoming a top-three global sports brand. Top three, when SGB describes ANTA as already third behind Nike and Adidas. Bit of an awkward goal to say out loud in front of your new biggest shareholder. It also ends the Pinault family's sportswear chapter. Kering took control of Puma in 2007 and spun most of it off in 2018. Artémis held the remaining stake until this week. The family's chips now sit squarely on luxury.
Evan Clark, writing in WWD:
DTC accounted for 45 percent of Levi’s business in the quarter, but was not as strong as the company expected, growing by just 2 percent — a big step down from organic growth of 8 percent in the second quarter. Within the division, e-commerce sales increased by 10 percent, but comparable sales growth was flat.
Wholesale carried the quarter to August 30, up 6 percent. Total revenue rose 4 percent to 1.6 billion dollars, or 5 percent organic. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 48 cents, against the 36 cents analysts expected, per Yahoo Finance. Gross margin widened 450 basis points to 66.2 percent. And credit to Michelle Gass, she owned it. The back-to-school push was all about loose fits while the heat was in women's low-rise. The right jeans were already on the shelf. The campaign just pointed people at the wrong ones. Now the footnote. Tariff refunds added 490 basis points of that margin, so without them gross margin was slightly down. Levi's is putting most of the refund back into the business, including more media spend, and still raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to 1.54 to 1.56 dollars, plus a 100 million dollar accelerated buyback. Europe had heat waves keeping shoppers out of stores, too. Gass says direct sales already rebounded there, and she's calling for mid-single-digit DTC growth this quarter. That's a forecast, not a result. The market wasn't fully convinced either. Shares slipped 2.2 percent after hours to 19.09 dollars. And with Harmit Singh outgoing as CFO, there's a finance handover heading into holiday.
Tara Deschamps of The Canadian Press, in BNN Bloomberg, quoting GlobalData's Neil Saunders on the buyers:
Its ownership “understands retail and has a track record of growing businesses rather than taking the private equity approach of running them into the ground,” he said in an email.
The agreement was signed Wednesday. Wittington Investments, the Weston family holding company, buys Boots from Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family for 8.9 billion US dollars including debt. That covers the UK and Ireland stores, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company and Thailand. Fairfax Financial puts up as much as 2.3 billion dollars for half the equity, Wittington keeps operational control, and Galen Weston becomes chair. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027. That Saunders line is a pretty direct shot at Sycamore. Same Sycamore that sold The Limited to CP Brands, which we got into on Monday. That's one analyst's view. Sycamore's Stefan Kaluzny says the deal is a testament to the work done since Boots became a standalone company a year ago. Sycamore took Walgreens Boots Alliance private for 10 billion dollars in March 2025. The beauty side is what I care about. No7 is a real brand, and Boots is fighting Sephora, which is heading into a hundred Marks and Spencer stores, as we covered at the end of September. Saunders expects more beauty innovation and a bigger No7. The Westons know this format. Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, Selfridges from 2003 to 2021, and the British branch is majority owner of Primark's parent. Boots brings over 1,800 stores and more than 50,000 staff. The stated plan is upgraded stores, better online and more healthcare services, with no investment figure attached in the announcements.
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Next up on the luxury calendar is LVMH's third-quarter revenue on Monday, October 12, which will be another read on China after today's Uniqlo numbers. Thanks for listening to Fashion Business Daily, part of the Lantern Podcasts family. We'll be with you again tomorrow, Friday.