Lululemon Q1 profit falls with many stores closed amid COVID-19 pandemic

Lululemon Athletica Inc. saw its profit fall in the most recent quarter as many of its stores were closed for a significant portion of the period.

The Vancouver-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its net income for the first quarter totalled $28.6 million or 22 cents per diluted share.

That's down from $96.6 million or 74 cents per share for the same quarter in 2019.

Net revenue totalled $652 million for the quarter ended May 3 down from $782 million in the first quarter last year.

Analysts had expected net income to come in at $31.32 million or 23 cents per share with $688.40 million in revenue, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Lululemon says about 60 per cent of its stores are now open globally after it had to temporarily shutter all its retail locations in mainland China in February, as well as all stores in North America, Europe and some Asia Pacific countries in March.