H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB Six-month report

STOCKHOLM, June 25(Greenpost) Due to well-received collections for all brands in the H&M group, the H&M group’s sales excluding VAT increased by 23 percent to SEK 86,143 m (69,970) during the first six months of the financial year. In local currencies the increase was 12 percent.

Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 13,158 m (11,129), an increase of 18 percent. The group’s profit after tax increased to SEK 10,066 m (8,458), corresponding to SEK 6.08 (5.11) per share, an increase of 19 percent.

Sales in the period 1 June – 23 June 2015 increased by 14 percent in local currencies compared to the same period last year.

H&M’s first store in Macau was very well received on its opening in June.The H&M group plans a net addition of around 400 new stores for the financial year 2014/2015. In total, H&M will expand its retail stores into five new markets in 2015, Taiwan, Peru, Macau, South Africa and India.

Starting from July 2015, H&M Beauty will gradually be launched in 900 H&M stores in 40 markets as well as online.

“The strong sales development has continued for all our brands with a sales increase in SEK of 23 percent excluding VAT during the first half-year. Including VAT, this means that sales in the first half amounted to more than SEK 100 billion, ” said CEO Karl-Johan Persson.

Profits have also developed well in the first half-year, with an increase of 19 percent – this despite the fact that the increasingly strong US dollar has resulted in increased purchasing costs and that we have continued to increase our long-term investments compared to last year.

In March and April we also opened eight new H&M online markets – Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Belgium – which were all very well received. With the opening of H&M shop online in Switzerland in the autumn, H&M will have 22 online markets.

In parallel with our online expansion, we are continuing to open stores at a fast pace.

“We are aiming to open approximately 400 new stores net this year. We have had many successful openings so far this year. For example, the opening in Lima, Peru, is one of our strongest ever when it comes to sales. Other places where we have also had great store openings include New York’s Herald Square – we opened the group’s largest store in terms of floor space here in May – and Macau, where we opened in June. Later in the second half of the year we are looking forward to opening in two interesting and large markets – India and South Africa, where we will open in New Delhi and Cape Town.” he said.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is quoted on Nasdaq Stockholm. H&M’s business idea is to offer fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way. In addition to H&M, the group includes the brands COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday, & Other Stories as well as H&M Home. The H&M group has more than 3,600 stores in 59 markets including franchise markets. In 2014, sales including VAT amounted to more than SEK 176.6 billion and the number of employees was more than 132,000.