Fashion retailer H&M earned less in the second quarter. The company announced on Thursday in Stockholm that high raw material and freight costs and the strong US dollar had weighed on the result. Operating profit fell in the quarter ended May 31 to a good 4.7 billion Swedish crowns after almost 5 billion crowns a year earlier. However, this was more than analysts had expected on average. After tax, profit fell from 3.7 to around 3.3 billion crowns.
H&M had already presented sales figures in mid-June. Bad weather slowed growth. Revenues increased by six percent to 57.6 billion crowns (around 4.9 billion euros), in national currencies sales even stagnated at the previous year’s level. The third quarter got off to a good start. The summer collections would be well received, the group has now announced. The austerity program is in full swing.
For the coming financial year, the company is therefore still assuming an operating margin of 10 percent. In the second fiscal quarter, it was 8.2 percent, which corresponds to a decrease of one percentage point compared to the previous year. (dpa)