Fashion retailer H&M’s fourth-quarter sales beat forecasts to hit €5.79bn

H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, reported a 10 per cent increase year-on-year in September-November net sales on Thursday, slightly exceeding market expectations of a 9.5 per cent rise.

Net sales for September-November, H&M’s fiscal fourth quarter, stood at 62.5 billion Swedish krona (€5.79 billion), up from 56.8 billion krona a year ago, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had, on average, forecast 62.17 billion krona.

“The H&M group’s operations in Russia and Belarus were wound up during the quarter, with the remaining stock being sold off and the last stores having closed on November 30th,” the company said in a statement. “During the quarter, around 25–50 stores in China were temporarily closed due to new Covid outbreaks.”

Measured in local currencies, sales in the quarter were unchanged, it said.

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H&M, which has struggled to keep up with bigger rival Zara, last month became the first big European retailer to lay off staff in response to the cost-of-living crisis as it tries to save 2 billion krona a year.

– Reuters