Gap Inc. posts 21% increase in annual sales despite slow fourth quarter

Gap Inc., the parent company of Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta, has reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending 29 January 2022.

For the fourth quarter, net sales reached £3.4 billion ($4.5 billion), down 3% compared to 2019. Online sales grew 44% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 and represented 43% of the total business.

For fiscal year 2021, the company reported net sales of £12.6 billion ($16.7 billion), a 2% increase versus fiscal year 2019. Fiscal year 2021 online sales grew 57% versus 2019 and represented 39% of total net sales.

The company ended fiscal year 2021 with 3,399 store locations in over 40 countries, of which 2,835 were company operated.

Sonia Syngal, CEO, Gap Inc. said: "After two years of restructuring, including divesting smaller non-strategic brands, transitioning our European market to an asset-light partnership model and shedding underperforming North American stores, our core business is strong and we are poised for balanced growth across our four billion-dollar
lifestyle brands.

"As our teams address near-term disruption from the acute headwinds that muted our fourth quarter performance, we are confident in our ability to execute against our long-term strategy, capitalizing on our investments in demand-generation, customer loyalty and artificial intelligence to accelerate profitable growth."

For fiscal year 2022, the company expects revenue growth to be in the low single-digit range versus fiscal year 2021.