2013.04.1202:51:07UTC+00Uniqlo owner boost yearly earnings forecast amid weaker Yen

Fast Retailing Co. (9983), Asia’s biggest clothing retailer, increased its forecast for yearly earning as the seller of Uniqlo branded apparel takes advantage from a declining yen.

Net income will probably be 91.5 billion yen ($918 million) for the year ending August, higher than its previous prediction of 87 billion yen, the Yamaguchi, Japan-based firm stated yesterday in a statement. Operating profit for the overseas Uniqlo business improves 40 percent for the six months ended February, while dropping 4.5 percent domestically amid a price cut.

Billionaire Tadashi Yanai’s casual clothes maker has opened new shops, including one in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district, under a plan to revitalize the Uniqlo brand’s utilitarian image. Fast Retailing displayed a 13 percent gain in net income to 65.4 billion yen for the six months, supported by a 11.1 billion yen gain from favorable currency trades.

The stock exchanged 1.1 percent lesser at 34200 yen at 9:46 a.m. in Tokyo trading today. Lesser profitability in the domestic business gave a “negative surprise,” Credit Suisse analyst Taketo Yamate said in a note today.

The clothing maker’s view for the year ending August assumes an exchange rate of 82 yen per dollar, it stated. The yen hit 99.88 on April 10, the worst level since April 14, 2009.

The Bank of Japan this month announced it will double the financial base by the end of 2014 through purchasing government bonds. The Japanese currency has relinquished about 19 percent versus the U.S. dollar over the past 12 months.