H&M struggles to recover from pandemic, but lockdown winner Deliveroo plots €1bn shares sale 

Covid corporates: Major fashion retailer pins its hope on lifting sales, while food delivery service looks set to be valued at $7bn

Sales at fashion retailer H&M fell slightly less than expected in the three months through February and rose in the first half of March as pandemic restrictions were eased in some markets, allowing hundreds of stores to reopen.

The world’s second-biggest clothes retailer said net sales fell 27% from a year earlier, or 21% when measured in local currencies, to 40.1 billion crowns (€4bn).

H&M said sales in the first two weeks of March were up 10% in local currencies as many countries, including single-biggest market Germany, began allowing some stores to reopen. However, about 900 of H&M’s approximately 5,000 stores remained closed due to pandemic lockdowns as of March 13.

Deliveroo shares sale

Meanwhile, Deliveroo plans to sell around £1bn (€1.2bn) of new shares in its upcoming IPO. The British food delivery company, which is backed by Amazon, said its listing will also include the sale of shares by some existing shareholders, potentially pushing the deal size even higher.

The deal is expected to value the firm upwards of $7bn, based on a private funding round completed in January, which would make it the largest London IPO by market cap since Royal Mail in October 2013.

Deliveroo confirmed that it will have two classes of shares, with founder and chief executive Will Shu to be the sole holder of “class B” stock which will give each of his shares 20 votes, whilst all other shares will carry one vote.

Reuters