US-based global fashion and home furnishings retail group TJX Companies, owners of the Homesense and TK Maxx brands, has reported a growth in both fourth quarter and full year sales across its international operations.
According to its latest Q4 trading update, total TJX International sales, which covers the EU, UK and Australia, increased 1% to $1.8bn against the same period last year. As for full year sales, revenues rose 8% to $6.2bn from $5.7bn.
Total group Q4 sales increased 5% to $14.5bn. Its core US market saw sales result at $11.4bn, representing an uptick of 6%. Full year sales rose 3% to $49.9bn from $48.5bn, with net income resulting at $3.5bn.
Looking ahead, for the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, the company is planning overall comparable store sales to be up 2% to 3% and expects pre-tax profit margin to be in the range of 9.2% to 9.5%.
Ernie Herrman, Chief Executive Officer and President of The TJX Companies, Inc., stated: “I am so proud of the outstanding performance and execution of our teams again in 2022. By staying focused on our off-price fundamentals, which have served us well through many kinds of retail and macro environments, we continued to bring customers around the world exciting values and a treasure-hunt shopping experience, every day. Our eclectic, rapidly changing mix of gift giving assortments clearly resonated with consumers this holiday season. We saw fourth quarter U.S. comp store sales growth of 4%, well above our plan, and U.S. customer traffic increase. Marmaxx delivered a very strong 7% comp increase, its highest quarterly comp of the year, driven by excellent sales in its apparel and accessories categories.
“For the full year, total sales neared $50 billion, U.S. comp store sales were flat, and overall profitability improved. During the year, our apparel businesses, including accessories, across the Company were strong. Sales at our home businesses overall were softer as we saw extraordinary growth during the two prior years when consumers focused on purchases for their homes. At our international divisions, we saw total sales increases and improved profitability for the year. Fiscal 2024 is off to a strong start and we remain confident in improving our profitability this year and reaching our pre-tax profit margin target of 10.6% by Fiscal 2025. We are energized for the year ahead and our plans to keep bringing customers around the globe ever-changing selections of great fashions and brands at excellent values. Longer term, I am confident that we are on track to becoming an increasingly profitable $60 billion-plus company.”
