Winter blues for H&M

Weak November

As everyone awaits the actual winter weather, sales for winter clothing have also lagged behind. H&M’s fourth quarter turnover for its broken fiscal year reached 48.7 billion Swedish krona (excluding VAT), some 5.2 billion euro. That result is well below analyst expectations, which stood at 49.5 billion krona. 

November was the worst month of the previous quarter: turnover (in Swedish krona) barely reached 4 % higher than last year, only the second time this year monthly growth dipped below 10 %. The nice weather was mostly an issue in Germany, where it generates a fifth of its turnover, and in the United States.

Spanish Inditex, boasting the largest quarterly turnover growth in three years’ time, and Irish low-cost retailer Primark have also definitely caused havoc for H&M’s turnover.

Hennes & Mauritz now has 3,924 stores worldwide, up 413 compared to last year. These stores generated 209.92 billion Swedish krona in turnover over its entire fiscal year, which is 22.62 billion euro. That is a 19 % increase overall and an 11 % increase in local currency. The company will present its final numbers on 28 January.