Urban Outfitters is on a roll and their music-inspired fashion themes are working. Today, March 11, 2013, they reported their fourth quarter financials with profits up 110% since last year at this time to $82.55 million from $39.26 last year.
Urban Outfitters, owners of the popular brand Free People, Anthropologie, BHLDN, and Terrain also continues to have a huge presence that this week’s SXSW in Austin, TX, with ongoing sponsored showcases and an active blog posting the latest activities, plus they’ve launched a music Festival LookBook for their upcoming collections featuring of course, Coachella, and summer music-fest inspired accessories, shorts, dresses, and footwear.
The total company net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 increased to a record $857 million or 17% over the same quarter last year. Comparable retail segment net sales, which include our comparable direct-to-consumer channel, increased 11% while comparable store net sales were flat. Direct-to-consumer net sales surged by 44% for the quarter and wholesale segment net sales rose 22%.
“I congratulate each of our brand and shared service teams for delivering an excellent fourth quarter,” said Chief Executive Officer, Richard A. Hayne. “We entered the year with a plan to invest in initiatives to drive top line growth and improve margins. We succeeded on both fronts especially in the fourth quarter. We will pursue a similar strategy in the current fiscal year as we believe we have only begun to unlock the opportunities ahead of us,” finished Mr. Hayne.
For the three months ended January 31, 2013, the gross profit rate improved by 650 basis points versus the prior year`s comparable period. The increase in gross profit rate was primarily due to a reduction in merchandise markdowns across all brands.
During the year ended January 31, 2013, the Urban Outfitters opened a total of 49 new stores including: 18 Urban Outfitters stores, 15 Free People stores, 14 Anthropologie stores, 1 BHLDN store and 1 Terrain garden center, and closed 2 Anthropologie stores.
Urban Outfitters has 215 Urban Outfitters stores in the United States, Canada, and Europe; 180 Anthropologie stores in the United States, Canada and Europe; Free People wholesale, which sells its product to approximately 1,400 specialty stores and select department stores, 77 Free People stores in the United States and Canada; 2 BHLDN stores’ and 2 Terrain garden centers.
