ANN/THE STAR – An unseasonably warm weather in several European markets had postponed the commencement of the autumn shopping season, leading to a decline in September sales, H&M reported.
However, the fashion retailer was able to boost its quarterly profit through cost-cutting measures.
H&M, a key competitor of Inditex, the owner of Zara, indicated that September sales, when measured in local currencies, would exhibit a 10 per cent year-on-year decrease.
Operating profit in the June-August period, the Swedish group’s third quarter, was SEK4.74 billion (USD430.7 million) against a year-earlier SEK902 million.
Analysts polled by LSEG had on average forecast a SEK4.72 billion profit.
The year-ago figure includes a one-off cost of SEK2.1 billion for the group’s exit from Russia.
“The cost and efficiency programme is proceeding at full speed and will continue to have an effect in the coming quarters,” H&M said. “Our goal of an operating margin of 10 per cent during 2024 remains.”
The company also said it had this month returned to JD.com, one of China’s biggest e-commerce marketplaces.
It returned to Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce platform last year, but has not been available on JD.com since 2021.
