At Abercrombie & Fitch Co., the momentum continues.
On Wednesday, the New Albany, Ohio based specialty retailer reported net income for the quarter ended Feb. 1 rose 11.8 percent to $187.2 million, or $3.57 a diluted share, from $158.4 million, or $2.97 a diluted share, in the year-ago period.
Operating income rose 16.2 percent to $256 million as compared to operating income of $223 million in the year-ago quarter.
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Net sales rose 9 percent to $1.58 billion from $1.45 billion in the year-ago period. Comparable sales were up 14 percent.
By division, Abercrombie sales rose 2 percent to $772.67 million from $755.2 million in the year-ago period. Hollister sales rose 9 percent to $1.58 billion from $1.45 billion in the year-ago period.
Regionally, the Americas did the best last quarter, with sales rising 11 percent. EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) rose 2 percent, while APAC (Asia Pacific) was down 4 percent.
For 2025, the company projects sales growth of 3 to 5 percent, and net income per diluted share in the range of $10.40 to $11.40.
For the first quarter of this year, the company projects sales growth in the range of 4 to 6 percent and net income per diluted share in the range of $1.25 to $1.45.
Apparently, Wall Street wants to see bigger gains going forward. The stock price fell 7.5 percent to $88.87 in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
“In fiscal 2024, we once again delivered on our commitments to our global customers and shareholders,” Fran Horowitz, chief executive officer, said in a statement Wednesday morning. “We entered the fiscal year with the goal of achieving sustainable, profitable growth on top of a defining fiscal 2023, and our collective effort and focus produced results well beyond our initial expectations. We grew net sales 16 percent to nearly $5 billion while expanding operating margin to 15 percent, with operating income and earnings per share growth of 53 percent and 72 percent, respectively.
“We enter fiscal 2025 with highly relevant brands, an agile playbook, and a motivated global team driven by a culture of innovation and growth,” Horowitz added. “Our expectation in 2025 is to build on the past two years of outstanding results and again deliver profitable growth while strengthening our brands and operating model.”
For all of 2024, A&F generated $4.95 billion in sales, up 16 percent from $4.28 billion in 2023. Comparable sales rose 17 percent.
By division, Abercrombie’s sales rose 16 percent to $2.56 billion from $2.2 billion in 2023. Hollister’s sales rose 15 percent to $2.39 billion from $2.07 billion.
