H&M shares dip as cool April weather dents sales

Shares in Swedish clothing retailer, H&M fell yesterday after the company said sales in April were hurt by unseasonably cool weather in many parts of Europe.

Sales rose 5% last month at local currency rates, missing the 7.9% average estimate of analysts surveyed by SME Direkt.

Unusually, the company included a commentary with its monthly figures to cite the impact of the weather.

“The cold spring which continued into April in several of H&M’s large markets has had an unfavourable impact on sales of transitional garments,” the company said.

Snow fell in Germany, the retailer’s biggest market, and other parts of Europe in April, causing shoppers to delay purchases of items such as T-shirts and shorts. Britain’s Next has also cited the impact of the cool weather.

H&M last month reported quarterly earnings that fell the most in five years as the strong dollar inflated the cost of Asian-made garments.

In Stockholm, H&M’s shares fell 1% yesterday and are now over 18% lower than this time last year.

Last month, H&M said it will double its number of stores to more than 8,000 in order to close the gap on larger rivals Inditex and as www.Amazon.com increases its online fashion sales.