H&M fashion chain reports huge rise in sales at Irish stores last year

SWEDISH fashion retailer H&M has reported a 29% rise in sales at its Irish shops in 2007.

The company, which has seven shops here, said sales in the year to end November 2007, rose to €44.1 million from €34.5m in the previous year.

The company opened two new stores in Ireland during the financial year.

The growth in sales, at 29%, was nearly double the Stockholm-listed company reported at its other operations.

In the three months to November 30, sales at the company’s stores here also increased by 29% to €12.6m.

The company did not give any details on the profitability if its Irish shops, which are located in Dublin, Limerick, Athlone and the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare. The last filed accounts for H&M at the Companies Registration Office in Dublin, for the year to end November 2006, show after tax profits of about e2m.

At group level H&Mreported fourth-quarter profits that missed analysts’ forecasts. The companyalso booked a 1% fall in like-for-like sales in December. For the year to November 30, 2007, H&M had sales of €9.7 billion and pre-tax profits of €2bn.

H&M said it plans to open 190 new stores in the current financial year. Most of these are to be located in the US, Spain, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

It did not say if it would open any further outlets in Ireland.