TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Fast Retailing hit their highest level this year in Tokyo on Friday after the owner of clothing brand Uniqlo posted record quarterly profit and raised its full-year forecast.

The stock rose 8.5%, the biggest one-day gain since April 15, and headed for the highest close since November 2021.

Strong results in North America and Europe helped offset sharp declines in sales and profits in China, Fast Retailing’s largest overseas market which has been hampered by COVID-19 restrictions on mobility and business , the company said.

The fall of the yen to a 24-year low of 139 per US dollar also provides a boost by increasing the repatriated value of profits abroad.

“China, for obvious reasons, was a headwind, but the continued recovery in all other regions has been impressive,” said Mark Chadwick, an analyst who posts on the Smartkarma research platform.

“The US and European regions both became profitable during the quarter. It looks like Uniqlo now has a good product market in the US, and we look forward to more aggressive expansion across the US “, he added.

Operating profit for the three months to the end of May jumped 37% from a year earlier to 81.8 billion yen ($587.4 million), an all-time high, it said. the company after the close of trading on Thursday.

The company increased its dividend and raised its operating profit forecast for the full year by 17% to 290 billion yen.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Jamie Freed)