The withdrawal from the Russian business and the unusually warm September weather in many important European countries are weighing on the fashion retailer H&M. Sales in September, adjusted for currency effects, will be around ten percent below the level of the same period last year, the group announced on Wednesday in Stockholm.
In the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, which ended at the end of August, revenue stagnated – as already known – due, among other things, to the withdrawal from Russia and losses in sales in Ukraine. Thanks to the weak domestic currency compared to the previous year, reported revenue increased by six percent to 61 billion Swedish crowns (5.2 billion euros).
The company made progress in terms of operating results. Adjusted for one-off effects, this increased by 58 percent to 4.7 billion crowns. The increase was slightly higher than experts had expected. In the third quarter of 2021/22, H&M recorded a special charge for the winding down of business in Russia of just over two billion crowns.
The operating margin was 7.8 percent in the three months up to the end of August. A significant improvement on the 1.6 percent in the previous year, but still some way away from CEO Helena Helmersson’s ten percent target. She wants to achieve this value in the coming year. However, analysts have doubts about this. (dpa)