H&M: third-quarter sales up sharply; shares jump

(CercleFinance.com) - Swedish budget fashion group H&M - which now publishes its sales on a quarterly basis and no longer each month - reported higher sales for the three months that ended in August, which has sent its shares up in Stockholm.


The apparel retailer said on Monday that sales including VAT in the third quarter rose 9% to 64.8 billion Swedish kronor. In local currencies, sales including VAT increased by 4%, it said.

H&M shares - which have lost 18% since the beginning of the year - today leapt 11.6% to 137.5 Swedish kronor, outpacing the STOXX Europe 600 retail index, which was up 0.7%.

"The H&M group's continuous transition, to face the major shift within the industry, has contributed to a gradually improved sales development and increased market share in many markets in the third quarter," the management team said.

H&M said that sales and costs in some of the group's important markets such as the US, France, Italy and Belgium have been, however, "considerably affected" by the issues that emerged during the implementation a new logistics system.

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