Urban Outfitters’ UK arm swings to a profit on strong sales

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 19, 2018

New stores and strong online sales helped American fashion group Urban Outfitters get out of the red and into the black in the UK last year.

The company, which trades under the Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie brands, has revealed a £4.8m profit for the year ended 31 January 2018, compared with a loss of £3.1m in the prior year.

The business had been struggling to turn a profit since 2012,  with losses peaking at £11m in the year to end of January 2016.

The improvement came on the back of a 10% increase in turnover ot £206m, from £187.6m a year earlier. Urban Outfitters said this was a result of the annualisation of sales in stores opened in 2017 and increased online sales.

Both brands experienced “good growth” during the year, as they continued to develop their transactional websites and online infrastructure.

The group had 40 UK stores by year end, and has recently opened a new Urban Outfitters shop in Cheltenham. The brand is primarily aimed at younger shoppers and teenagers with trend-led designs and cult labels, while Anthropologie sells fashion and homeware for a more adult demographic.