H&M Group today reported sales up by almost a fifth in its latest full year, after twelve months in which it expanded quickly, online and off.
The Swedish fast fashion retailer, whose brands include H&M Home, Cos and & Other Stories as well as its core H&M brand, added 10 new online markets, to sell in 23 in total by year-end. It opened 413 new stores and now has 3,924 shops in 61 territories. The UK was H&M’s third biggest market, after Germany and the US. UK sales, online and through 264 stores, 11 opened during the year, came to SEK 16bn (£1.3bn), 23% up on the same time in the previous year in krona, and 8% up in pounds.
Sales of 210bn Swedish krona (SEK) (£17.2bn) in the year to November 30 2015, were 19% up compared to the previous year. Gross profit, before exceptional items and tax, came in at SEK103.2bn (£8.45bn), 16% up on the previous year.
“2015 has been a very expansive year for the H&M group,” said H&M chief executive Karl-Johan Persson. The coming year, he said, would follow the same trend, with plans to open 425 new stores including the new markets of New Zealand, Cyprus and Puerto Rico. “In addition,” he said, “H&M plans to offer ecommerce in a further nine existing H&M markets. These countries are Ireland, Japan, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg. We are very pleased with the continued strengthening of our online customer offering and developments within our online operations.” He said the company would continue to invest in “the opportunities coming from the increased digitalization.”
Meanwhile, figures from shoe brand Jimmy Choo showed that 6% of its sales were made online in the year to December 31. Group sales of £318m were 6% up on the same time last year, with retail sales of £208m, 8% up.
In today’s trading statement, the company said it was “confident in our ability to grow faster than the market”. It added: “Our business in Asia (where we are under-penetrated) and Japan is growing well, and we have significant opportunities to maintain this outperformance in the years ahead. 2016 will see the implementation of our omnichannel platform in the USA and Europe for our retail and online network.”
