Urban Outfitters Inc. hit Wall Street’s sales number for the fourth quarter and welcomed former Club Monaco chief executive officer Francis Pierrel as president of its namesake Urban Outfitters division.
Pierrel will be responsible for the brand in North America and will report to Sheila Harrington, global CEO of the Urban Outfitters and Free People Group. Prior to Club Monaco, he worked as president of stores and e-commerce for Ralph Lauren in North America and held senior roles at Lacoste and Diesel.
Richard Hayne, CEO of the company, described Pierrel as “a seasoned omnichannel retail executive with deep experience in managing iconic brands across all channels — e-commerce, stores, and wholesale.”
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Pierrel is stepping in at what has become the firm’s second-largest business, behind Anthropologie Group, but also its slowest growing (setting aside the still small Menus & Venues division).
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Sales at the Urban Outfitters division tallied $474.4 million in the fourth quarter, marking an increase of 10.8 percent from a year ago and a 5.4 percent gain from right before the pandemic.
By contrast, Anthropologie Group’s sales totaled $558.7 million, growing 29.5 percent from a year ago and 13.8 percent from two years ago. Free People logged sales of $276.2 million, up 26 percent from year ago and 28 percent from two years ago.
Overall, the company posted sales of $1.33 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations and a gain of 22.4 percent a year ago and 13.9 percent from two years ago.
During the year ended Jan. 31, the retailer operated 56 new stores and closed 18 doors to operate a total of 682 stores.
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