Aritzia reports strong Q4 revenue growth as profits widen

Canadian womenswear brand Aritzia has reported a 43.5 percent jump in revenue in the fourth quarter of the year as its US market continued to shine.

The company made revenue of 637.6 million Canadian dollars (around 469 million US dollars) in the three months to February 26, up from 444.3 million Canadian dollars a year earlier.

Chief executive Jennifer Wong hailed the brand’s “outstanding momentum” in the fourth quarter as comparable sales increased by 32 percent.

“The strength in our business across all geographies and all channels reflects the tremendous demand for our beautiful, high-quality products from both new and existing clients,” she said.

Fourth-quarter revenue was boosted by particularly strong growth in the US market, where sales surged 55.7 percent and represented 52.9 percent of total revenue.

Aritzia’s net income widened to 37.3 million Canadian dollars in Q4, up from 34.2 million Canadian dollars the prior year.

Full-year profits widen at Aritzia

For the full year, Aritzia made revenue of 2.2 billion million Canadian dollars, up 46.9 percent from the prior year, with US revenue up 65.8 percent.

The brand’s net profit for the year widened to 187.6 million Canadian dollars from 156.9 million Canadian dollars a year earlier.

“In fiscal 2024, our focus will be on scaling our infrastructure to match our recent tremendous growth and make strategic investments to fuel our future growth and achieve our long-term goals,” Wong said.

The company expects FY24 revenue of between 2.42 billion Canadian dollars and 2.5 billion Canadian dollars, representing year-on-year growth of between 10 percent and 14 percent.

However, it expects gross profit margin to drop by around 200 basis points, reflecting “ongoing inflationary pressures, normalized markdowns, pre-opening lease amortization, and additional warehousing costs related to inventory management, partially offset by lower expedited freight costs”.