H&M, the Swedish multinational fast fashion retailer, has recently announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 28 February 2017. During the period under review, H&M Group’s sales including VAT amounted to SEK 54,369 million (50,624), an increase of 7 per cent.
Sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 46,985 million (43,691), an increase of 8 per cent. Sales in local currencies increased by 4 per cent in the first quarter while gross profit increased to SEK 24,466 million (22,699). This corresponds to a gross margin of 52.1 per cent (52.0).
The fashion brand’s sales including VAT in the period 1 March to 28 March 2017 increased by 7 per cent in local currencies compared to the same period the previous year.
The fashion retailer will open five new physical store markets one each in Colombia, Iceland, Vietnam and Georgia. Under the expansion plan it has inaugurated its first store in Kazakhstan in mid-march.
In addition, H&M plans to continue its online roll-out into six new markets: Turkey, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia which are planned to open during the first half of 2017.
Also Read – H&M opens first store in Kazakhstan
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO said, “We have seven brands today – H&M, COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and H&M Home – and soon it will be time for our next exciting launch, ARKET. H&M remains our largest brand with a presence in 65 markets. This means a wide geographical spread involving a mix of both established and new markets with significant competition locally, globally and digitally. Retail is going through a challenging period of change in which customers’ shopping behaviour and expectations are changing at a fast pace as a result of growing digitalisation. This is an accelerating development which also brings great opportunities.”
