Hello, and welcome to the Urban Outfitters Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. Questions may be submitted via the message icon at the top left of your screen by typing your message, then clicking the send icon to the right of the message box. The meeting is about to begin.
Good morning. My name is Oona McCullough, Executive Director of Investor Relations for Urban Outfitters Inc, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the URBN Annual Shareholders Meeting. If you are logged on to Lumi, the virtual platform, you will see the agenda for today's meeting on your screen. The agenda for the formal portion of today's meeting has three major components. First, the election of ten directors to serve until the 2025 shareholders meeting. Second, a proposal to ratify the appointment of Deloitte as the company's independent registered public accounting firm. And third, to hold an advisory vote on approval of the company's executive compensation. If you have an 11-digit voter control number issued by AST and wish to vote during this meeting, you may do so by clicking the proxy voting site link on the left-hand panel of your screen.
You must vote quickly, because once we finish our introductions, the formal meeting will be called to order, at which time the polls will close and voting will stop. You may also ask questions during the meeting if you registered with your 11-digit voter control number. Please refer to the messaging icon at the top of the left side of your screen, type your question into the text box, then click the send icon at the right of the text box. Before turning the meeting over to Dick Hayne, Chairman and CEO of Urban Outfitters, Inc, I call your attention to the company's disclaimer that the following discussions may include forward-looking statements. Please note that actual results may differ materially from those statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results is contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Please note, today we will be speaking to our financial results on an adjusted basis, which does not include non-recurring adjustments for asset impairments, lease abandonments, and a change in the revenue recognition method at Nuuly. The effect of these items was detailed in our fourth quarter fiscal 2024 press release. Now, I will turn the meeting over to Dick.
Thank you, Oona. It's my pleasure to welcome URBN shareholders, directors, employees, service providers, and friends of the company to our virtual annual meeting. Our agenda for today includes making brief introductions, conducting the formal business that Oona just outlined, discussing business results, and finally, answering your questions. As mentioned, polls will close after my introductions are complete. So now on to introductions. Joining me to help conduct today's meeting and assist in answering your questions are Frank Conforti, Co-President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, Michael Silbert, General Counsel and Company Secretary, and Azeez Hayne, Chief Administrative Officer. For today's meeting, Azeez will also function as the Judge of Elections. It is now my pleasure to introduce our board of directors. Besides myself, our board consists of nine directors.
They are Ed Antoian, Kelly Campbell, Harry Cherken, Mary Egan, Meg Hayne, Amin Maredia, Wesley McDonald, Todd Morgenfeld, and John Mulliken. During the year, these nine colleagues have provided me with valuable advice and guidance, and I thank them for their service. We also have one service provider joining us today, Felix Orihuela. He is joining us virtually. Felix works for American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, our transfer agent and vote compiler. He is prepared to answer shareholder questions concerning the vote tabulation, should any arise. Felix, thank you for joining us today. With that, my introductions are complete and the polls are officially closed. Therefore, I call the meeting to order. We will now conduct the company's formal business. The first item of formal business is a statement concerning the giving of notice and the presence of a quorum. Azeez, would you report on those two matters?
This meeting is held pursuant to printed notice, dated and mailed to each shareholder of record on April 1, 2024. Sufficient votes are present in person or by proxy to constitute a quorum.
Thanks, Azeez. Since we have a quorum, we will conduct the three items of formal business that appear in the proxy statement, after which we will hear the vote on each item. The first of these three is the election of the board of directors. The 10 recommended nominees for director standing for re-election are listed in the proxy statement provided to shareholders. They are Ed Antoian, Kelly Campbell, Harry Cherken, Mary Egan, Meg Hayne, Richard Hayne, Amin Maredia, Wesley McDonald, Todd Morgenfeld, and John Mulliken. Each nominee elected will serve a term expiring at the annual meeting of shareholders in 2025. The next item of business is the appointment of Deloitte as the company's auditor for the year ending January 31st, 2025. The third and final item of business is a non-binding shareholder advisory vote on executive compensation.
Azeez, can you please announce the voting results for each of these items?
All 10 directors listed in the proxy materials have been elected by majority vote. The shareholders have ratified the appointment of Deloitte as the company's independent registered public accounting firm, and the shareholders have approved the company's executive compensation in a non-binding advisory vote.
Thank you, Azeez. With that, all items of formal business as outlined in the proxy have been addressed by the shareholders. The actual vote from today's meeting will be reflected in a Form 8-K filing in the next few days. As always, the board will review and carefully consider shareholder feedback as reflected by the voting results. Please note that the company has prepared and issued an annual report on Form 10-K. This report outlines the company's recent operating results and financial conditions. The 10-K is available online at urbn.com. That's urbn.com. With that, the formal portion of today's meeting is now closed, and I'll move on to a brief business review, including a discussion of recent operating results. Looking back on our last fiscal year, which ended on January 31st, 2024, I couldn't be more proud of our teams and what they were able to accomplish.
Together, they delivered 8% year-over-year revenue growth by posting record sales of $5.2 billion. This marks the first time in company history that annual revenues exceeded $5 billion. Gross profit margin expanded by 370 basis points, with initial margins jumping by over 200 basis points and markdowns remaining well controlled. Higher revenue with strong gross margin improvement drove operating profit up by 70%, which led to earnings per diluted share of $3.25, or an exciting 86% increase over the previous year. Four of our five brands delivered double-digit year-over-year sales gains and strong customer growth. In addition, our newest brand, Nuuly, which offers subscribers the ability to rent apparel monthly, delivered its first-ever profitable quarter. The outstanding performance these four brands delivered last year continued in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
As we recently reported on our May conference call with investors, Anthropologie, Free People, and FP Movement continued to produce strong growth in Q1, with retail segment sales at each brand posting double-digit comp sales increases. Meanwhile, the Nuuly brand recorded a 51% jump in year-on-year revenues. All four brands are delighting their customers, capturing additional market share, and executing at a best-in-class level. Combined, the four brands more than offset the continued softness at the Urban Outfitters brand. At the Urban brand in North America, a new senior team joined in Q1 and began to make changes in how that brand operates. They are emphasizing product and category distortion, value pricing, and more relevant social media marketing as ways to grow their customer base and return the brand to profitability. Rest assured, this remains our number one priority.
Turning now to the health of our customers at all brands. As a group, we believe they are currently in good shape, enjoying both solid job security and rising incomes. They are still excited by our new fashion offerings, and traffic in stores and online remains strong, but their purchases are slightly more considered than last year. Overall, I would classify the customer mood this versus last year as enthusiastic rather than exuberant. We believe this new mood is more sustainable. In sum, we have four brands that are executing at a high level and gaining market share, and one we believe is positioned for a turnaround. In addition to top-line growth, we have additional margin recapture potential this year, as demonstrated by our performance in the first quarter.
For the current fiscal year, therefore, we have the opportunity to grow revenues, improve margins and profitability, and deliver higher earnings per share. We are indeed excited for the future of URBN. That concludes my prepared remarks. I will now pause and ask Oona if there are any questions from shareholders. Oona?
Dick, at this time, it appears there are no questions.
Well, thank you, Oona. Since there are none, the URBN 2024 Annual Shareholder Meeting now stands adjourned. Thank you for your interest and participation.