In a step toward hitting its ambitious earnings targets for 2020, the operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain reported a 49-percent jump in group operating profit for the latest quarter.
Fast Retailing Co. revised upward its forecasts for the year ending August 2010 to a group pretax profit of 126 billion yen ($1.36 billion) on sales of 820 billion yen, an all-time high.
The company announced in September that it hopes to post a group pretax profit of 1 trillion yen on sales of 5 trillion yen in 2020.
Of the 5 trillion yen sales target, company officials hope to generate 1 trillion yen in Japan and up to 4 trillion yen abroad.
In the September-November period, the company's group operating profit, from its core business, shot up 49 percent from a year earlier to 61 billion yen on sales of 263 billion yen, up 39.8 percent.
President Tadashi Yanai has said the company needs to increase sales by 20 percent annually to achieve the 2020 target.
Sales were lifted by the Heattech thermal wear, which comes in a variety of colors and designs, jackets made of light "neo-leather" synthetic fibers and 990-yen jeans from the g.u. brand.
In October, Fast Retailing added a new high-end line called +J, by German designer Jil Sander.
In November, the company launched a massive sales campaign to commemorate the 60th anniversary of its founding.
In his New Year's speech on Jan. 4, Yanai said: "We see the world's largest business opportunity before us. We intend to grab it and win."
