The North Face store pictured above opened in April at the grand opening of Lucua 1100, a specialty retail center that is part of the massive Osaka Station City Northgate Building development in Osaka, Japan.

Goldwin Inc. reported its profit growth slowed substantially
in the fiscal year ended March 31 and expects growth to slow further in fiscal
2016.

The company, which owns distribution rights to The North Face,
Helly Hansen and other outdoor and athletic brands in both its native Japan and
neighboring Asian countries, reported net sales grew 4.6 percent to ¥57.4
billion ($522 mm) in fiscal year ended March 31 after growing 4.5 percent in
the prior fiscal year.

Gross margin grew 110 basis points to 42.1 percent. SG&A expense reached
37.8 percent of net sales, up 80 basis points from fiscal 2014.

Operating income grew 8.8 percent to ¥2.41 billion ($22 mm), or just half the
rate it grew in fiscal 2014, while ordinary income grew 4.8 percent, down
dramatically from the 23.1 percent rate reported for fiscal 2014. Goldwin
excludes the impact of non-recurring and/or non-cash items such as store
closings, asset impairment charges,  gains on the sale of long-term assets  and accounting for retirement benefits from
ordinary income. As a percentage of sales, however, ordinary income remained on
part with fiscal 2014 at 7.1 percent. Net income rose 14.9 percent to ¥3.47
billion ($31.5 mm), or ¥59.6 per share.

Goldwin ended the year with cash and deposits of ¥4.53 billion ($38 mm) and
merchandise and finished goods valued at ¥9.77 billion ($82 mm), down 2.6 and
up 7.0 percent respectively.

Goldwin's guidance for fiscal 2016 calls for growth in sales and operating
income to slow substantially. Net sales and ordinary income are expected to
grow 1.0 and 1.5 percent respectively to ¥58.0 billion and ¥4.15 billion, while
net income is forecast to grow 2.6 percent to ¥3.56 billion, up 2.6 percent.

Tokyo-based Goldwin is among Japan’s best known designers, manufacturers and
distributors of premium athletic and outdoor apparel. In addition to its own
brands, it has rights to more than two dozen brands in Japan, South Korea and
other parts of Asia. It has distributed The North Face in Japan since 1978. It
added licenses for Danskin, Filson, Fischer and Helly Hansen in the 1980s,
Speedo in 2007 and Icebreaker in 2012. The company opened its U.S. subsidiary,
Goldwin America, in Manhattan Beach, CA in 2013 and is currently pushing to
expand distribution of its premium Goldwin ski apparel and C3fit compression
apparel.