H&M follows suit with quarterly reports

H&MFast fashion giant, H&M, will no longer publish monthly sales figures, instead opting to report its results on a quarterly basis and begin holding capital market days for company shareholders.

Karl-Johan Persson, CEO of H&M, said that a month is “far too short a period over which to assess how sales are developing and in fact, a single month’s sales can actually be misleading, since calendar and weather effects – among other things – may significantly affect the outcome.”

“Instead sales development should be viewed over a longer period of time, such as over a season or a quarter,” he said in a statement.

“This is also the reason why the majority of companies in fashion retail currently report their sales quarterly rather than monthly.”

The Swedish apparel chain will publish quarterly sales figures on the 15th of each month in which an interim report is presented.

Capital markets days will provide “more in-depth information about the business” and as previously, sales for the quarter will be published ahead of each interim report as the percentage change in local currencies and in Swedish kronor as well as in absolute figures in Swedish kronor, both including and excluding VAT.

H&M saw revenue including VAT increase by 7 per cent in local currencies during June compared to the same month the previous year.

The total number of stores in the group amounted to 4,517 at the end of June compared to 4,095 the previous year.

In its recent half-year results, sales, including VAT, grew by 9 per cent to SEK113.907 billion (US$13.4 billion) for its first half.

Sales excluding VAT for the Swedish fashion group amounted to SEK98.368 billion, while profit after tax amounted to SEK8.354 billion.

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