H&M H1 FY'13 sales down 4%

FIRST HALF-YEAR

- The H&M Group’s sales including VAT increased in local currencies by 5 percent during the first six months of the financial year. Sales in comparable units decreased by 4 percent. Converted into SEK, sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 60,027 m (59,491), an increase of 1 percent.

- Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 9,359 m (10,754). The Group’s profit after tax amounted to SEK 7,113 m (7,958), corresponding to SEK 4.30 (4.81) per share. Substantial negative currency translation effects and long-term investments during the period make it difficult to compare the results with the corresponding period last year.

SECOND QUARTER

- The H&M Group’s sales including VAT increased in local currencies by 5 percent during the second quarter. Converted into SEK, sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 31,635 m (31,658). Sales in comparable units decreased by 4 percent.

- Continued substantial negative currency translation effects as a result of the continued strengthening of the Swedish krona against most sales countries’ currencies. The reported sales of SEK 36,923 m including VAT would have been approximately SEK 1.8 billion higher using the same currency rates as in Q2 2012.

- Gross profit amounted to SEK 19,337 m (19,546), corresponding to a gross margin of 61.1 percent (61.7). Increased markdowns have negatively affected the gross margin by 0.9 percentage points in relation to sales compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

- Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 6,125 m (7,053). The Group’s profit after tax amounted to SEK 4,655 m (5,219), corresponding to SEK 2.81 (3.15) per share, a decrease of 11 percent.

- A successful start for & Other Stories and continued very good performance by COS.

- Sales have got off to a good start in June. Sales increased by 14 percent in local currencies in the period 1 June – 17 June 2013 compared to the same period last year.

H&M