Weather and cost-of-living crisis limit H&M sales growth to 6 %

Sales remain stagnant at the Swedish H&M Group: a disappointing fourth quarter has limited the annual sales growth to 6 %. Profit figures will not be made public until the end of January.

Cost-of-living and unfavourable weather

H&M’s preliminary sales figures for the fourth quarter and full financial year, which ended on 30 November, show that annual sales rose 6 % to 236.014 billion Swedish crowns (21 billion euros). Excluding Russia and Belarus, growth would be 8 %. In the fourth quarter, sales remained almost stable at 62.629 billion crowns (5.5 billion euros). Excluding Russia and Belarus, there was a 3 % increase.

The fashion group, also known for brands such as &Other Stories, Cos and Arket, also reported flat sales in the past quarters. The company points to the cost-of-living crisis and adverse weather conditions.

The Swedish fashion group has been doing less well than its big rival Inditex for a while now: the parent company of Zara and Massimo Dutti published a 11 % rise in sales last week and even record profits – despite a slight slowdown in growth. H&M does not announce profit figures until the end of January.