PHILADELPHIA, March 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), a leading lifestyle products and services company which operates a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of Anthropologie, BHLDN, Free People, Terrain, Urban Outfitters and Nuuly brands and the Food and Beverage division, today announced the Company is providing an update to business trends in advance of management’s participation at the BofA Securities Consumer & Retail Technology Conference 2020 on March 11, 2020. 

The Company would like to provide an update on current business since our last earnings call on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.   Over the past week, we have seen a decline in store traffic and sales in areas heavily impacted by COVID-19 such as Milan, Italy and Seattle, Washington, as well as a few additional locations.  We have not seen a significant impact to stores in other locations or to our Digital channel.  Due to the uncertainty around the spread of COVID-19 in North America and Europe, at this time, we cannot forecast the extent to which COVID-19 will impact our business in the first quarter. 

Urban Outfitters, Inc., offers lifestyle-oriented general merchandise and consumer products and services through a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of 248 Urban Outfitters stores in the United States, Canada and Europe and websites; 231 Anthropologie Group stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, catalogs and websites; 144 Free People stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, catalogs and websites, 11 Food and Beverage restaurants, 5 Urban Outfitters franchisee-owned stores, 1 Anthropologie Group franchisee-owned store and 1 Free People franchisee-owned store, as of January 31, 2020. Free People, Anthropologie Group and Urban Outfitters wholesale sell their products through approximately 2,300 department and specialty stores worldwide, digital businesses and the Company’s Retail segment.

This news release is being made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain matters contained in this release may contain forward-looking statements. When used in this release, the words “project,” “believe,” “plan,” “will,” “anticipate,” “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any one, or all, of the following factors could cause actual financial results to differ materially from those financial results mentioned in the forward-looking statements: the difficulty in predicting and responding to shifts in fashion trends, changes in the level of competitive pricing and promotional activity and other industry factors, overall economic and market conditions and worldwide political events and the resultant impact on consumer spending patterns, any effects of war, terrorism, and civil unrest, natural disasters or severe or unseasonable weather conditions, increases in labor costs, increases in raw material costs, availability of suitable retail space for expansion, timing of store openings, risks associated with international expansion, seasonal fluctuations in gross sales, the departure of one or more key senior executives, import risks, changes to U.S. and foreign trade policies, including the enactment of tariffs, border adjustment taxes or increases in duties or quotas, the closing or disruption of, or any damage to, any of our distribution centers, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, risks associated with internet sales, our ability to maintain and expand our digital sales channels, response to new store concepts, our ability to integrate acquisitions, failure of our manufacturers and third-party vendors to comply with our social compliance program, changes in our effective income tax rate, the impact of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, regulatory changes and legal matters and other risks identified in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that actual results may differ materially from any projected results expressed or implied therein.

Source: Urban Outfitters, Inc.