The Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) had a surprise on Wednesday morning: the parent company of brands such as H&M, Cos, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories and Arket announced the immediate resignation of CEO and President Helena Helmersson and at the same time Group veteran Daniel Ervér as his successor.
“Not an easy decision”: Helmersson resigns for personal reasons
Helmersson, who spent 26 years at the company and was named CEO four years ago, cited personal reasons for her departure in a statement. “I have spent almost my entire professional life in the H&M Group and am very grateful to have had the opportunity to work in different divisions, different countries and different roles,” she said. She therefore informed the board of directors “with mixed feelings” about her decision.
“I am very proud of what we have achieved together in recent years as we have had to overcome the pandemic and various geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges,” emphasized Helmersson. “However, for me personally it was very stressful at times and I now feel that it is time to step down from the role of CEO, which of course was not an easy decision.”
The new CEO Daniel Ervér has been with the company for 18 years
Her successor Daniel Ervér can also look back on a long career at Hennes & Mauritz. The 42-year-old has been working for the group for 18 years. For the past four years he has headed the H&M retail chain.
“Daniel is a competent, experienced and respected leader and has the necessary qualities to continue the development of the H&M Group,” said Chairman Karl-Johan Persson.
Despite declining demand: the group can more than double its annual profit
In addition to the new CEO, the group also presented its full results for the 2022/23 financial year, which ended on November 30th. Accordingly, the company was able to make significant progress in terms of earnings despite an unexpectedly weak final quarter.
Thanks to higher margins, operating profit, which had been 7.17 billion Swedish kroner in the previous year, grew to 14.5 billion Swedish kroner. The net result also more than doubled. It jumped from 3.57 to 8.72 billion Swedish crowns (774 million euros).
The group had already announced in December that annual sales had grown by six percent to 236.0 billion Swedish crowns (20.9 billion euros). However, adjusted for exchange rate changes, revenue fell by one percent.
Demand has also remained subdued so far in the first quarter of 2023/24: in the period from December 1st to January 29th, sales in the respective local currencies were four percent below the corresponding previous year’s level, the company explained and admitted that the result will probably be burdened by more extensive discounts.