Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) India has reported sales Rs 954 crore for the period of December 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017, 87 per cent growth to last year in local currency.
Cuurently, H&M India currently operates 29 stores across the country.
The H&M group continued to grow globally in 2017. Sales including VAT increased by 4 percent to SEK 231,771 m (222,865) in the financial year. Sales increased by 3 per cent in local currencies. Sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 200,004 m (192,267).
Globally, gross profit increased to SEK 108,090 m (106,177). This corresponds to a gross margin of 54.0 per cent (55.2). Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 20,809 m (24,039). The group’s profit after tax amounted to SEK 16,184 m (18,636), corresponding to SEK 9.78 (11.26) per share.
A continued roll-out of H&M’s online store is planned to another four markets during the financial year 2017/2018: India, and via franchise to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Kuwait was opened in December 2017 via franchise.
“The fashion industry is changing fast. At the heart of the transformation is digitalization and it is driving the need to transform and re-think faster and faster. This is presenting many challenges but we believe we are well-placed to adjust to the new dynamics and take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” said Karl Johan Persson, CEO, H&M.
In 2018 the H&M group plans to open approximately 390 new stores and approximately 170 store closures are planned, resulting in a net addition of approximately 220 stores. New planned H&M store markets are Uruguay and Ukraine.
Afound – new brand will be introduced in 2018. Afound will be an off-price marketplace offering products from well- known and popular fashion and lifestyle brands, both external brands and those from the H&M group. It will be launched in Sweden, with a first store in Stockholm opening in parallel with a digital marketplace in Sweden.
H&M and H&M Home will open on Tmall, the world’s largest e-commerce platform, in March 2018.
For the full-year 2018 approximately 390 new stores are planned to open, with a primary focus on growth markets. Approximately 170 store closures are planned, which is part of the intensified store optimisation being carried out that also includes renegotiations, rebuilds and adjustment of store space to ensure that the store portfolio is the best fit for each market. Most of the new stores in 2018 will be H&M stores, of which 45 will have H&M Home shop-in-shops, while approximately 95 stores will consist of the brands COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday, ARKET and Afound. In 2018, seven standalone H&M Home stores are planned to open.
The growth target of the H&M group to increase sales in local currencies by 10 – 15 per cent per year with continued high profitability is a long-term target. In view of the H&M group’s transition work to face the major shift in the industry, the company does not expect the growth target to be reached in the current financial year.
