H&M turnover grows thanks to new stores

Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz has seen its second quarter turnover grow 5 % compared to the previous year, mainly thanks to a 10% increase in the number of stores.

4,077 stores worldwide

The Swedish group, which owns fashion chains like H&M, COS and & Other Stories, managed a 5 % turnover increase (in local currency and including VAT) in its second quarter. In Swedish krona, that became a 2 % turnover increase to 54.3 billion Swedish krona, some 5.8 billion euro. The increase is mainly the result of a sizeable increase in its number of stores: Hennes & Mauritz opened more than 400 new stores in the past fiscal year, resulting in a total of 4,077 by the end of May.

The group also published some preliminary results for May: turnover (in local currency and including VAT) grew 9 % and if the holiday effect is taken into account, turnover increased 11 %, according to H&M.

Although its evolution may appear positive, the Swedish group is still not doing as well as its major Spanish rival, Inditex.