Swedish fashion giant H&M saw its turnover increase by 9 % in the third quarter, but profits fell due to the implementation of new logistical systems.
9 % turnover growth
The fashion group’s turnover rose to 64.8 billion Swedish crowns (6.3 billion euro) as online turnover increased by 32 %. Net turnover rose by 4 % to over 55.82 billion crowns (5.4 billion euro). “The rapid changes in the fashion industry are continuing and the H&M group is in an exciting transitional period,” says CEO Karl-Johan Persson. “Our transformation work has contributed to a gradual improvement in sales development with increased market share in most markets during the third quarter, particularly in Germany, Sweden, Eastern Europe, Russia and China.”
“In the US, France, Italy and Belgium, however, store sales were negatively impacted by the problems that arose when we introduced new logistics systems in these markets”, the CEO continues. Work to correct the problems resulted in extraordinary costs of around 400 million crowns, the company says, and that had a considerable impact on profit, which dropped from 3.8 billion to 3.1 billion crowns (290 million euro).
H&M was founded in 1947 and owns formats such as COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, & Other Stories, H&M Home, Arket and Afound. The company opened 173 new stores this year and closed 99, on a total of over 4,800 physical points of sale in 70 markets. In addition, the group is active online in 47 countries.
