Business
Abercrombie shares soar 37% on Hollister growth, strong earnings beat
An Abercrombie & Fitch store stands in midtown Manhattan in New York City on Oct. 24, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch soared 37% Tuesday after the company showed investors it’s set to keep growing, even as its namesake brand slows down.
During the apparel retailer’s fiscal third quarter, Abercrombie brand sales fell 2%. But for at least the third quarter in a row, Hollister saved the retailer, as sales climbed 16%. CEO Fran Horowitz said sales at Abercrombie are expected to be flat in the current quarter, indicating growth at Hollister is set to drive the company’s holiday shopping season.
Companywide, sales rose 7%, beating expectations.
Here’s how the apparel retailer did in the period ended Nov. 1 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $2.36 vs. $2.16 expected
- Revenue: $1.29 billion vs. $1.28 billion expected
The company’s reported net income for the quarter was $113 million, or $2.36 per share, compared with $131.98 million, or $2.50 per share, a year earlier.
Sales rose to $1.29 billion, up about 7% from $1.21 billion a year earlier.
The company’s namesake banner has fueled its comeback in recent years, but now that the Abercrombie brand’s growth has started to moderate, Hollister has picked up the baton. During the quarter, Abercrombie’s sales fell to $617.35 million while comparable sales declined by a staggering 7%. Sales came in far below the $631.8 million analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount.
Meanwhile, Hollister’s revenue rose to $673.27 million, well above the $649.7 million analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Comparable sales rose 15%.
As the retailer heads into the peak shopping season, “Hollister’s exciting campaigns and collaborations planned will highlight some must haves,” Horowitz said on a call with analysts. “We are just getting started and importantly, our team has been reading and reacting and has the right product to support sales throughout the season.”
She also said Abercrombie is investing more in the Hollister brand, as the company is on pace to open 25 stores and refresh 35 others this year.
At the Abercrombie brand, Horowitz said last quarter that the slowdown was related to old inventory the company needed to mark down to sell. She said she expected the brand to be back to growth by the end of the year, but that no longer seems to be the case.
During Abercrombie’s conference call, executives didn’t answer when asked when the brand will return to growth. It spoke about the “sequential improvement” Abercrombie saw after a 5% decline in revenue in the previous quarter. Horowitz pointed to recent collaborations with the NFL and luxury retailer Kemo Sabe as bright spots for the brand.
“Abercrombie Brands has inventory in the right place and a strong marketing plan heading into holiday,” said Horowtiz. “We’ve opened 30 new stores in the third quarter, aiming for a total of 36 stores this year. We remain focused on bringing the brand back to growth.”
For its holiday quarter, Abercrombie is expecting companywide sales to climb between 4% and 6%, which is largely below Wall Street expectations of 5.6% growth, according to LSEG. It anticipates earnings per share will be between $3.40 and $3.70, roughly in line with expectations of $3.55 per share.
For the full year, it now expects sales to rise between 6% and 7%, largely beating expectations of 6.2% growth, according to LSEG.
Business
Asian stocks today: Markets remain mixed after Trump’s Iran remarks; HSI down over 76 points, Kospi gains 1.5% – The Times of India
Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump’s comments on Iran, saying that he was told “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran have stopped. At the same time, oil prices dropped sharply, falling more than $2 a barrel.Hong Kong’s HSI was up 76 point or 0.28% down at 26,923. Nikkei plunged 230 points or 0.42% to trade at 54,110. Shanghai and Shenzhen ended down 0.33% and up 0.41%. In South Korea, Kospi was up 1.5% or 74 points.US benchmark crude slid $2, or 3.4%, to $59.75 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell $2.31, or 3.5%, to $64.21 a barrel.Shares of Toyota Industries rose 6.2% after reports said Toyota Motor had increased its buyout offer for the company to 18,800 yen ($118.61) per share. US futures were little changed. The future for the S&P 500 rose by less than 0.1%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down by less than 0.1%.On Wednesday, Wall Street closed lower for a second consecutive session. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, the Dow slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1%.Losses were led by Big Tech stocks, even as most shares on Wall Street advanced. The sector came under pressure as investors pulled back from the artificial intelligence rally and amid warnings from some critics that valuations had become stretched. Nvidia shares declined 1.4%, while Broadcom fell 4.2%.Bank stocks also weakened. Wells Fargo sank 4.6% after reporting quarterly profit and revenue that missed expectations. Bank of America fell 3.8%, and Citigroup dropped 3.3%.Energy stocks provided some support to the broader market. Exxon Mobil gained 2.9%, and Chevron rose 2.1%.Investors continued to seek safe-haven assets as geopolitical uncertainties remained elevated. Gold prices slipped 0.8% on Thursday but stayed close to their previous record levels.In the bond market, the yield on the US 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late Tuesday, reflecting increased demand for safer assets. Bond prices move inversely to yields.In currency trading early Thursday, the US dollar strengthened to 158.63 Japanese yen from 158.46 yen. The euro weakened slightly to $1.1636 from $1.1645.
New Delhi: Indian stock markets are shut today, January 15, after the Maharashtra government declared a public holiday for municipal elections in Mumbai and several other parts of the state. While the move aims to ensure smooth voting, it has sparked a debate in the financial world with Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath strongly criticising the closure of both the NSE and BSE, calling it a case of “poor planning.”
Kamath Flags Global Impact of Local Market Holiday
In a post on X, Nithin Kamath pointed out that Indian stock exchanges are deeply connected with global markets, yet were closed today due to local municipal elections. Quoting Charlie Munger, he wrote, “Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.” Kamath said the holiday continues because no one who matters has any incentive to oppose a market shutdown, adding that such decisions underline how far India still needs to go to earn the confidence of global investors.
Indian stock exchanges are closed today for Mumbai’s municipal elections.
The fact that our exchanges, which have international linkages, are shut down for a local municipal election shows poor planning and a serious lack of appreciation for second-order effects.
As Munger…
— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) January 15, 2026
Holiday Added at the Last Minute
The trading holiday on January 15 was not part of the stock exchanges’ original 2026 trading calendar and was added only earlier this week. Both the BSE and NSE later issued separate circulars confirming that trading would remain suspended today due to municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra.
All Key Market Segments Shut, Trading to Resume Tomorrow
Trading remained suspended across equities, equity derivatives, securities lending and borrowing, as well as currency and interest rate derivatives for the day. The commodity derivatives segment was closed during the morning session, but was scheduled to reopen for evening trading. Normal trading on both the NSE and BSE is set to resume on Friday, January 16.
Getty ImagesRegulator Ofwat has opened an investigation into South East Water (SEW) after repeated loss of water supplies across Kent and Sussex.
The investigation will consider whether the company has complied with its licence condition to provide high standards of customer service and support.
Ofwat said it was the first investigation it had launched into customer-focused licence conditions.
SEW said: “The company will always fully co-operate with any investigation by our regulators and provide any information required.”
As of Wednesday night, 10,000 properties continued to have no water supply.
Lynn Parker, Ofwat’s senior director for enforcement, said: “The last six weeks have been miserable for businesses and households across Kent and Sussex with repeated supply problems.
“We know that this has had a huge impact on all parts of daily life and hurt businesses, particularly in the run up to the festive period.
“That is why we need to investigate and to determine whether the company has breached its licence condition.”
The investigation was started after the prime minister said the situation, which affected 30,000 customers at its height, was “clearly totally unacceptable” and asked Ofwat to review the company’s licence.
SEW said some customers might not see supplies return until Friday after issues first began on Saturday in the wake of Storm Goretti and a power cut at a pumping station.
The company said it would be using 26 tankers to pump water directly into its network while working “around the clock” to fix leaks and bursts.
Ofwat already has an open investigation into SEW’s supply resilience to determine whether it has failed to develop and maintain an efficient water supply system.
As of 17:30 GMT on Wednesday, SEW said it had implemented a new recovery plan for Tunbridge Wells that involved keeping local booster pumps switched off for a further 36 hours.
The aim was that customers would wake up to a consistent supply by Friday morning.
SEW said its local drinking water storage tanks had not refilled at the speed required, so it had to extend the “outage” to allow it to recover fully.
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