Fast Retailing Co. forecast lower profits this fiscal year than analysts are expecting after losses at its Uniqlo and J Brand businesses in the U.S. hurt last year's earnings.
Net income will probably rise 4.5 percent to ¥115 billion ($960 million) in the year ending August 2016, the Yamaguchi-based company said in a statement Thursday. That's less than the ¥141.6 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Billionaire Chairman Tadashi Yanai's goal to turn Asia's biggest clothing retailer into a world leader with sales of ¥5 trillion by 2020 faces a hurdle from its operations in the U.S., where expansion amid what the company called "relatively low recognition" of the Uniqlo brand has led to sustained losses. The company also risks alienating some customers in Japan, its largest market, with price increases that Yanai said were inevitable because of a weaker yen.
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