London (Reuters)-The Swedish ready-to-wear H&M giant reported weaker sales on Thursday than expected in the first quarter and said its sales were up 1% until now in March, a sign of slow start for its spring/summer season.
H&M recorded sales of 55.3 billion Swedish crowns (5.12 billion euros) for the quarter from December to February, below the estimates of analysts who tapped on average on 55.9 billion Swedish crowns.
“Our sales and profits during the quarter have been a little lower than expected, but the first quarter is the smallest of the year for us in terms of sales and margin, and we are confident for the future,” said group general, Daniel Erver, in a statement.
The increase in recovery and investment in marketing had an impact on the profitability of H&M during the quarter, said the Swedish distributor, the profit margin of operations falling to 2.2%, against 3.9% a year ago.
Daniel Erver, who has been running H&M for a little over a year, has been trying to straighten the group’s bar and intensified marketing, notably calling on pop stars like Charli XCX in order to make the brand more attractive in the face of its competitors Zara and Shein.
(Written by Helen Reid, Etienne Breban, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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