H&M misses sales estimates as third quarter ‘got off to a weak start’
H&M has admitted its third-quarter “got off to a weak start” as shoppers fret about stark increases to household bills.
The Swedish fashion group posted weaker than expected quarterly sales on Thursday, missing out on analyst expectations.
Net sales were up three per cent from a year prior, at $5.4bn. However, Refinitiv analysts had expected a five per cent boost.
The retailer’s share price was down four per cent on Thursday afternoon and has tumbled more than a third over the past year (-35 per cent).
Weaker sales at the start of the quarter were “in common with the industry in many of the group’s major markets,” H&M said.
However, sales had “improved sequentially during the quarter,” with a “better start” for the autumn apparel collections versus the previous year.