Strong sales generated by both the Abercrombie and Hollister brands and across all regions drove increased profits.

Abercrombie & Fitch Courtesy
For Abercrombie & Fitch, it’s more of the same and that’s a good thing.
On Tuesday, A&F reported its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit gains, positioning the retailer for a healthy holiday season ahead.
The New Albany, Ohio-based youth-oriented retailer has transcended the retail industry by reporting quarterly sales gains on top of quarterly gains, and is now well within sight of achieving its goal of surpassing $5 billion in annual sales. Last year, A&F generated $4.28 billion in sales.
Operating income for the third quarter ended Nov. 2 rose 14.8 percent to $179 million from $138 million in the year-ago period.
Net income rose to $131.98 million, or $2.50 per diluted share, a 10.9 percent gain from $96.2 million, or $1.83 a share, in the year-ago period.
Net sales rose 14 percent to $1.2 billion from $1.06 billion in the year-ago quarter and were up 14 percent on a constant currency basis. Comparable sales rose 16 percent.
“For the sixth consecutive quarter, our global team delivered double-digit net sales growth. This great sales performance led to better-than-expected results on both the top and bottom lines,” Fran Horowitz, chief executive officer, said in a statement Tuesday morning.
“With broad-based growth across regions and brands, we continue to execute at a high level, leveraging our regional playbooks and operating model,” Horowitz added. “Each of our regions grew double digits in the quarter, with the Americas growing 14 percent, EMEA growing 15 percent and APAC growing 32 percent. From a brand perspective, each brand showed growth-on-growth as customers responded positively to our product and marketing. Abercrombie brands delivered 11 percent comparable sales on top of 26 percent last year and Hollister comped 21 percent on top of 7 percent last year. The strong top-line growth drove third quarter operating income of $179 million, up 30 percent to 2023.
“Based on our third quarter outperformance and outlook for the fourth quarter, we are increasing our full-year outlook on sales and expect to be around the high end of the operating margin range shared last quarter,” Horowitz said. “Our teams are engaged and ready to deliver for our customers this holiday season with the goal of achieving sustainable, profitable growth firmly in our sights.”

Fran Horowitz Courtesy image
A&F now expects 2024 sales to be up 14 percent to 15 percent versus the previous outlook of 12 percent to 13 percent. Operating margin is around 15 percent, versus the previous expectation of 14 percent to 15 percent.
Fourth-quarter sales are expected to increase 5 percent to 7 percent, and the operating profit margin is expected to come in at 16 percent.
In a breakout by brand, Abercrombie’s third-quarter sales rose 15 percent to $629.8 million, from $54.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Hollister’s third-quarter sales rose 14 percent to $579.1 million, from $508.7 million in the year-ago period.

By region, sales in the Americas rose 14 percent to $986.5 million from $867.6 million in the third quarter of 2023. Sales in the EMEA region rose 15 percent to $181.3 million from $157.98 million in the year-ago period. And sales in APAC increased 32 percent to $40.9 million from $30.9 million.
In other news at A&F, Robert Ball has been promoted to chief financial officer. He will serve on the company’s executive leadership team and continue to report to Scott Lipesky, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Ball was senior vice president of corporate finance, investor relations, and treasury. He’s been with A&F for nearly 22 years working in finance and strategy roles. Before joining the company in 2003, Ball started his career as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch.
Lipesky was promoted to COO in May 2023, after serving as CFO since 2017.
“With Scott’s promotion to COO, we had an opportunity to elevate a very talented leader in our finance organization, and I’m pleased to welcome Robert to his new role as CFO,” said Horowitz. “He has worked in close partnership with me and our entire executive leadership team to help architect A&F Co.’s transformation and successfully execute the turnaround of our brands and business.”
“I’m excited to take on the role of CFO at this stage of A&F Co.’s journey,” said Ball. “As much as we’ve achieved over the last several years, there is tremendous opportunity ahead.”
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