Urban Outfitters beats sales records in third quarter

By

Robin Driver

Published
Nov 20, 2018

Philadelphia-based lifestyle retail group Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) announced on Monday strong progress across all brands, segments and categories in Q3 2018, reporting record-breaking sales and earnings per share (EPS).

 
The company’s net sales for the third quarter ended October 31, 2018, increased 9% to $974 million, compared to $893 million in the prior-year period. Wholesale segment net sales rose 12%, while comparable retail sales increased 8%, pushed by solid double-digit growth in the company’s digital channel.
 
By brand, comps were up 12% at Free People, 8% at the Anthropologie Group and 7% at Urban Outfitters.

The company’s net income for the quarter totaled $78 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, up from $45 million in Q3 2017.
 
“I’m pleased to announce our teams produced record Q3 sales and earnings,” said Urban Outfitters, Inc. CEO Richard A. Hayne in a release. “All brands, all channels, all product categories and all geographies delivered positive ‘comp’ sales”.
 
In the course of the quarter, the company’s Urban Outfitters chain launched in-house cosmetics brand Ohii, following in the footsteps of other youth-focused apparel retailers such as Asos and Boohoo, which also diversified into private-label beauty last year.
 
The cruelty-free brand’s launch offering received largely favourable reviews, which commended the line’s budget-friendly pricing and minimalist packaging.
 
Year to date, the company’s net sales came to $2.8 billion, compared to $2.5 billion in the same period in the previous year. Net income for the nine-month period totaled $212 million, up from $107 million.
 
Having opened 14 stores since the beginning of the year, URBN currently operates 623 locations around the world under its different banners, as well as brand-specific e-commerce websites, across the US, Canada and Europe.

This year has also seen the opening of the first three franchisee-owned Urban Outfitters locations.
 
At the end of last month, the company announced that its eponymous flagship brand will be expanding into the Middle East through a franchise deal with Azadea Group, the first location in the region being slated to open in Dubai in 2019.