Continued momentum in Asia has helped boost revenues for US clothing brand Guess Inc for its first quarter, to May 5.
As the company continued to take advantage of its infrastructure investments in China and Japan, its operating margin in Asia improved by 430 basis points.
Asia revenues increased 32.6 per cent in US dollars and 25.1 per cent in constant currency.
Operating margin for the company’s Asia segment increased 430 basis points to 4.8 per cent in the quarter, compared to 0.5 per cent. This was driven mainly by higher gross margins.
CEO Victor Herrero says company revenues overall grew 15 per cent in US dollars and 8 per cent in constant currency. “We were also able to expand the company’s operating margin, despite cost pressures related to our transition to our new distribution centre in Europe.”
At the same time, the company had a GAAP net loss of $21.2 million, a 0.3 per cent improvement on the first quarter a year earlier. An adjusted net loss of $17.8 million was 7.9 per cent better than the same period 12 months ago.