Fast Retailing bullish about recovery as Asian expansion pays off

Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing may have reported a 12-per-cent drop in sales in its full-year results, but that decline was far less than predicted as recently as July because the Greater China and Japanese markets recovered at a faster rate than expected. 

The company reported a full-year profit of US$1.426 billion, down 42 per cent, on sales of $19.185 billion worldwide. 

Same-store annual sales across Uniqlo stores declined by 6.8 per cent in Japan, while fourth-quarter sales in Greater China were up 20 per cent year on year. 

In South Korea, where the company has been impacted by a broad boycott of Japanese brands by local consumers for the last year or so, sales fell sharply and Fast Retailing recorded a loss, despite…