H&M sales halve during lockdown months as retailer hopes for June recovery
Sales at H&M halved during the second quarter of the year, after the coronavirus lockdown forced it to close four-fifths of its global stores during the outbreak.
The world’s second-biggest fashion retailer’s net sales for the three months to 31 May were 28.7bn crowns (£2.45bn), 50 per cent lower than the same period last year.
The drop, though steep, was less extreme than many analysts had predicted. Most had forecast a sales drop to 27.5bn crowns.
H&M began a gradual reopening of worldwide stores in late April, though its outlets in England have only been allowed to reopen from today.
It said that local-currency sales in the first 13 days of June were down 30 per cent year-on-year, marking a slight recovery versus the previous three months.
About 900 stores remain temporarily closed., representing around 18 percent of the group’s 5,058 sites.
Online sales are open in 48 of the company’s 51 online markets.
Shares in H&M were down 24 per cent this year at Friday’s closing price.
“The pace of the sales recovery varies largely between markets,” it said.
H&M’s biggest rival Inditex, the owner of Zara, last week reported a loss on a 44 per cent sales drop for the February-April period.