tokyo japanese casual clothing chain uniqlo is likely to report strong samestore sales for june taking the edge off a profit plunge for owner fast retailing co due to store closures and weak demand amid the coronavirus pandemic fast retailing is scheduled to announce marchmay financial results and june domestic sales on thursday analysts expect quarterly operating profit to slump around 90 yearonyear to 626 billion yen 5819 million according to refinitiv for june jp morgan analyst dairo murata forecast a 2030 jump in domestic samestore sales helped by demand for the companys airism face masks which sold out quickly after going on sale that month japan began lifting pandemic lockdown measures in late may advt such a rise following declines of 57 in april and 18 in may would be the strongest sign yet of the business recovering at least in its home market stores in china a key growth market have also reopened and people are shopping again we estimate a 3 sales boost from the airism facemasks and these facemasks have also been highly effective in attracting consumers to stores murata said in a research note dated june 29 while strong june sales may also highlight the companys relative strength among global fastfashion peers helped by its focus on practical clothes and strength in asian markets it may be too early to say the worst is past some analysts warned that a bounce in june was likely driven by pentup demand from consumers cooped up at home in previous months and may be shortlived given the recession ahead the company in april forecast sales for the fiscal year ending aug 31 would fall 9 to 209 trillion yen from a year earlier and operating profit would slump 44 to 145 billion yen ceo tadashi yanai who called the pandemic the biggest crisis for humanity since the end of world war two has warned that the forecast could be revised further reuters published on jul 9 2020 at 1124 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app fashion retailer uniqlo fashion brand fast retailing coronavirus pandemic lockdown uniqlo sales apparel homenewsuniqlo june sales seen strong taking edge off pandemic woes