H&M SALES UP DESPITE COLD SPRING

Swedish fast fashion retailer H&M reported an increase in sales in the second quarter of 2016, but numbers were still below the company’s expectations.

“Sales including VAT in the second quarter amounted to 54K billion ($6.56 billion) and profit before tax was SEK 7 billion. In local currencies, sales increased by 5 percent,” remarked Karl-Johan Persson, the company’s CEO. “The sales increase in March and April, however, was significantly below our plan. These two months were negatively affected by cold spring weather in many of our markets. In May, sales were much better with an increase of 9 percent.”

Persson noted that profits were affected by the increased markdowns, the cost of long-term investments, and the U.S. dollar, along with sales. “It has been a challenging half- year for half retail in many markets, but we have great confidence going forward and are continuing to develop our offering further within all brands,” he added.

The company announced that in 2017, it would open brick-and-mortar stores in four or five new markets, including Colombia, and continue a rapid rollout of its online shopping market, By the end of 2016, it will have 32 online markets and more than 4,4000 stores in approximately 65 markets.