Aritzia sees profits rise in Q1

Aritzia Inc. announced another strong quarter on Wednesday.

The Canadian fashion retailer reported net revenue of $145 million for the 13-week period ended May 28, 2017, up 14.7 percent from $126.4, compared to the same period last year. Net income jumped 4.9 percent from $7.7 million to $8.1 million.

The increase was primarily driven by solid comparable sales growth, as well as strong sales from the company's e-commerce business.

"We continued to see strong momentum across our business during the first quarter, with a 9.3 percent increase in comparable sales, including significant growth in our eCommerce channel,” said Brian Hill, Aritzia's Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, in a news statement. “We also saw solid contributions from our new and repositioned stores, which continue to perform at or above our expectations.”

Gross profit for the quarter increased by 12.4 percent to $57.5 million, or 39.7 percent of net revenue, while adjusted net income increased by 29.8 percent to $12.5 million.

During the second quarter, Aritzia plans to open two new stores: a flagship store on Rush Street in Chicago and a Babaton banner store in Toronto's Yorkdale Centre, and has already expanded and repositioned one store at Toronto's Square One Mall.

"We continue to manage our business for sustained, long-term growth and are making investments to best position the Company to broaden our customer base, and drive increased sales volume and further margin expansion,” added Hill. “Looking forward, we believe these efforts will result in even stronger performance for our business. I continue to be extremely excited about our business today and our future growth opportunities."

Aritzia, which went public in October, posted gross profit of $265.5 million in fiscal 2017.

The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Aritzia sees profits rise in Q1

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