Urban Outfitters announced their fourth quarter results today and it’s safe to say they exceeded expectations. Earnings were up 92%(!!!) year over year and profit doubled from $0.24/share to $0.45/share. The surprise result was that Free People led the way with an 11% rise in same-store sales. Anthropologie was close behind with a 10% increase and Urban Outfitters’ namesake stores were flat. (Guess the kids lost their disposable income.) Results for Terrain were not available.
For the quarter, Urban Outfitters earned $78 million (the 92% increase cited above) and fiscal year sales closed at $1.9 billion, a new record for the company and a 6% increase over the previous 12-month cycle. Direct sales were up 28% and gross margins were up to 41.7% from 34%. This growth was led by a reduction in markdowns…pretty impressive considering that Anthro has still had decent sale markdowns each Tuesday.
Transcripts for their quarterly call should be available tomorrow, so look for a more in-depth post on the call soon. Not to bury the lede but here’s two notable nuggets from globest.com:
Urban Outfitters plans to roll out a new concept next year that will focus on wedding gowns, intimate attire, special occasion gifts and related items, management said today during the retailer’s fourth-quarter conference call. The concept, for which no name was revealed, will launch a website on Valentine’s Day 2011 followed by stores.
Urban is also launching the first store this year for its Leifsdottir wholesale clothing label. That women’s label is currently sold in 65 specialty and department stores across the country.
So, Leifsdottir gets its own store somewhere and Urban Outfitters is launching a new concept that includes wedding gowns, something I’d wished for a couple of years back??!? Awesome. Consider me tickled.
Further reading:
Philadelphia Business Journal
CNN Money
Roxy, if I didn't have enough reason to love your blog, you definitely gave me one when you used the correct spelling when you wrote "bury the lede"! Truly awesome.
Roxy I dont know if you've covered this already but I'm unable to read reviews on the new anthro website. Do you have this problem and have you figured out how to get around it?
*bows* My JT210 professor would be proud, Victoria.SB – hmm, I have not had this issue. What OS/browser are you on?
Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! A Leifsdottir store! I'm sure it will be in New York (another great reason to visit), but if it does well maybe a Chicagao store wouldn't be too far behind. And wedding gowns! I'm sure they'll be divine. I also hope that that label will carry black-tie dresses. Anthro always has a couple that qualify (hello Pictureshow Dress), but I'd love to see them to more. It seems like UO is a children's clothing line away from becoming a complete lifestyle brand and taking over the world.
spring cleaning this week, i discovered that my closet is almost entirely made up of anthro & urban outfitters. glad they're doing well! when the recession hit and my husband started talking about clothing stores folding, i cried. for real, and he mocked me.
Ooh, I've always wanted an Anthro wedding gown!
Although I have to say, I wish that UO wouldn't send me all of their brands' catalogs. I'm in love with Anthro and I'm occasionally curious to see what Free People has to offer… but has anyone seen the Urban Outfitters catalog that came out this week? I felt like I was looking at child porn. Ugh.
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Lola – I totally agree with you about the UO catalog! That little girl on the front in what looked like her panties was just yucky!Roxy – I guess the inventory cuts they have taken have paid off but it is getting frustrating as a consumer to see SO many items on back order (and not just the that snakebite belt, ha ha!). Shoes, belts, dresses, you name it, in every category there are backorders. Do you think they will adjust their inventory in the coming months to avoid this or ????
lola, i feel the same way about uo's catalogs. the girls are very young-looking and sometimes not even clothed. there was one, i think last year, where the girl was naked (like, full frontal) on a couch, and i called and asked to be taken off their list, b/c it really did look like child porn.