H&M beats forecasts as currency movements work in its favour
Swedish fashion retailer H&M posted a bigger-than expected jump in sales in May, helped by weakness of the Swedish crown against other international currencies.
H&M has benefitted from a recovering US economy, a stronger online presence and a broader product offering, which includes new brands such as & Other Stories and sales of homeware.
Sales at the world’s second biggest fashion chain rose by 10 per cent in the last month of its second quarter on a local currency basis, beating analyst forecasts of around eight per cent growth.
As a result, second-quarter sales totalled 45.9bn Swedish krona (£3.6bn), up 21 per cent from a year earlier, which was ahead of forecasts of 44.7bn krona.
The company said crown weakness against most of its sales currencies had a substantial positive effect on reported sales.
Including value-added tax (VAT), sales were up 10 per cent in local currencies and up 20 per cent in crowns.