Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing’s operating profit beats pre-pandemic level

The owner of Japanese clothing chain Uniqlo said on Thursday its quarterly operating profit beat pre-pandemic levels, boosted by China’s resurgence and solid demand for comfortable clothing such as stretchy jogging pants.

Fast Retailing’s profit in the three months through November rose to 113.1 billion yen ($1.09 billion), up 23 per cent from a year earlier when the novel coronavirus outbreak had yet to emerge.

That beat the market’s consensus view of 104.7 billion yen, although quarterly sales of 619.8 billion yen missed expectations for 640 billion yen, according to the average of analysts’ forecasts from Refinitiv.

Fast Retailing has widely been viewed as one of the most resilient retailers amid the global virus…