Gelonghui, April 11 | Express Sales Group (6288.HK), which operates UNIQLO, announced that for the first half of the year ending February 29 this year, shareholders should have accounted for 195.9 billion yen in profit, an increase of 27.7% year-on-year. Express Sales raised its annual profit forecast, and the profit forecast attributable to shareholders was raised by 10 billion yen to 320 billion yen. The profit forecast before tax was raised by 20 billion yen to 500 billion yen. Comprehensive income was reduced by 20 billion yen to 3.03 trillion yen, but it was still 9.5% higher than the actual income of the previous year. Express Sales anticipates that the annual dividend per share will be increased by 60 yen from the previous year to 350 yen, including an interim dividend of 175 yen. The Group's total comprehensive income for the first half of the year was 1.6 trillion yen, up 9% year-on-year, and total consolidated operating profit was 257 billion yen, up 16.7% year-on-year. The gross margin improved by 2.4 percentage points year-on-year to 52.9%. Looking at each business segment, overseas UNIQLO's revenue for the first half of the year increased 17% year-on-year to 883.9 billion yen, and operating profit was 15.9 billion yen, up 23% year-on-year. Although Japan's UNIQLO business division recorded a decline in revenue in the first half of the year, profit increased sharply, mainly due to factors such as a sharp improvement in the cost ratio and a 3.6 percentage point improvement in gross margin. Operating profit for the first half of the year was 77.2 billion yen, an increase of 14.7% year-on-year. The GU business division's revenue for the first half of the year was 159.5 billion yen, up 9.6% year-on-year, and operating profit was 15.3 billion yen, up 17.5% year-on-year.