That would exceed the previous profit record of 263 billion yen in the year ended in August 2019.

For the fourth quarter, analysts expect a 7% drop in profit.

The company, founded by Japan’s richest man, Tadashi Yanai

As its Chinese operations slumped, Fast Retailing has put increased focus on North America and expects to turn an annual profit in the region for the first time this year.

But even in the United States and Europe, people are avoiding shopping for clothes, hurting sales at companies including H&M

“China is continuously failing to live up to the company’s expectations and the only factors holding Uniqlo’s share price from breaking down are the North America growth and the yen depreciation,” LightStream Research analyst Oshadhi Kumarasiri wrote in a report on the Smartkarma platform.

“Those too are now under threat, with a looming recession and Fed rate hikes failing to curb inflation,” he said.

The yen slid to a fresh 24-year low against the dollar on Wednesday. Fast Retailing’s shares are up 18% in 2022, compared with an 8.5% drop in the benchmark Nikkei index.

Yanai, who founded the company and owned about 21% of it as of February, and his family had a net worth of $23.6 billion as of May, according to Forbes.

Seven & I Holdings, another Japanese retailer with a large U.S. footprint, raised its full-year profit forecastlast week, citing the weak yen and strong fuel sales at its convenience stores in North America.