STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden’s H&M reported on Thursday a bigger jump in pretax profit than expected for the June-August period to above pre-pandemic levels as shoppers returned to stores, but said product flow disruptions hampered sales in September.
Fiscal third-quarter pretax profit at the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer after Zara owner Inditex rose 158% from a year earlier to 6.09 billion Swedish crowns. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast a 5.05 billion crown profit.
Compared to the same quarter in 2019 – before the pandemic – profit was up 22%.
“The new autumn collections have been well received,” H&M said. “Sales in September 2021 were slightly higher than in the corresponding month the previous year in local currencies, even though demand was not able to be fully met because of disruption and delays in product flow.”
H&M proposed paying a dividend of 6.50 crowns per share in November.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Helena Soderpalm and Simon Johnson)
