H&M 11% rise in sales represents third consecutive month of growth

International fashion retailer H&M has reported an 11% year-on-year rise in sales for July representing its third consecutive month of growth.

Although the monthly figure missed initial market estimates of 12.4%, growth came despite consumer gloom in Germany — the company’s single biggest market — and was largely driven by the company’s aggressive expansion drive in recent months.

On a like-for-like basis — measuring just those stores that were open during the same month last year — July sales were up by only 2%. This figure was also down, slightly, on initial estimates of 2.7%.

The first half of this year has seen H&M enter a number of new markets in Europe, North America, and the Far East and expansion is set to continue with another 300 stores opening and the company spreading into the Baltic states and Indonesia.

The Swedish retailer & is due to report third-quarter figures in mid-September, with fuller nine-month figures due at the end of next month.

In June, H&M chief executive Karl-Johan Persson noted a good first half of the year, with “the positive trend continued in the second quarter”.

First-half net sales, for the company, grew by more than 14% to SEK59.5bn (€7.24bn); with year-on-year profit growth of 14.5% also measured, to SEK7.9bn.

While Ireland — where H&M operates 10 stores — does not seem to be on the company’s expansion list, sales here rose by 18% in constant currency terms in the first half, to SEK288m (€35m).

Ireland was one of only five of the 33 markets H&M operates within which did not see any store openings during the first half, although it was not one of the nine territories where the Swedish company closed stores.