Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN) has continued its winning streak with record first-quarter earnings and sales results.
It follows record-setting first, second and third-quarter sales in the previous financial year.
In the latest quarter, net sales increased 7.8% year on year to $1.2 billion, driven primarily by off-brand labels Anthropologie, Free People and Nuuly. The Urban Outfitters label, in contrast, saw year-on-year sales decline by 12%.
Chief executive Richard Hayne noted that “customer demand remains robust for our spring and summer fashion, which bodes well for continued sales growth in Q2”.
The success of Urban Outfitters’ off-brand labels has been a major boon to the Philadelphia-based fashion company’s shares in recent years, with the stock adding more than 50% over the past 12 months alone.
That rally continued in today’s pre-market session, with the stock adding another 3%.
Higher selling, general and administrative (SGA) expenses was a sore spot on the first-quarter statement, having increased 11.3% to $33.9 million.
This was put down to “increased marketing expenses to support double-digit customer traffic growth and increased sales at the Free People, FP Movement, Anthropologie and Nuuly brands and increased store payroll expenses to support the retail stores comparable sales growth”.