Gap’s main brands are Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and Internix. Of these brands, Gap brand is the biggest, the oldest and the in-house brand of the company. Banana Republic was acquired by Gap in 1983. Old Navy brand was founded in 1994 while Athleta was founded in 1998. Intermix is a multi-brand fashion retailer which was founded in 1993.
Gap’s fiscal year end is the Saturday closest to January 31 of every year. So the number of weeks in a fiscal year can be either 52 or 53, and sometimes the year end falls in first week of February.
Gap’s net sales for the year ended January 28, 2012 was $14,549 million.
Gap’s net income for the year ended January 28, 2012 was $833 million
For the year ended January 28, 2012, Gap’s net profit margin can be calculated as Net income / net sales * 100% = $833 million / $14,549 million * 100% = 5.73%.
Gap uses January or February year end for its fiscal year. This practice is similar for many retail companies. The major reason for this is that December end, being the holiday period, is a very heavy rush period. And companies need to divert more resources towards sales and marketing.
If retail companies, including Gap, prepares their financial reports at December end, it would distract resources away from their main operational activities. This is why Gap follows a January or February year end for its fiscal year, as it follows the general business cycle for the retail industry and generally results in heavy sales and income in the last quarter of the fiscal, i.e. from November to January.
