Swedish clothing giant H&M on Thursday reported weaker-than-expected sales in the fiscal second quarter but pointed to an uptick in demand to kick-start the summer season.
Revenues at the world’s second-largest clothing retailer dipped year-on-year to 56.71 billion Swedish krona ($5.99 billion) in the three-month period to May. 31, slightly below the 57.01 billion Swedish krona forecast by LSEG analysts. In local currencies, sales were up 1%.
Operating profit totaled 5.9 billion Swedish krona over the quarter, in line with expectations.
Shares were up 5.2% by 8:07 a.m. London time.
CEO Daniel Erver said that the quarter’s results were “negatively affected” by higher purchasing prices from a more expensive U.S. dollar and higher freight costs.
