STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s H&M reported on Thursday a smaller profit than expected for the December-February period, its fiscal first quarter, as investments and lingering effects of the pandemic weighed.
The world’s second-biggest fashion retailer swung to a pretax profit of 282 million crowns ($30.45 million) from a year-earlier loss of 1.39 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast a 1.04 billion crown profit.
“Sales and profits for the quarter were impacted by the negative effects of the pandemic in many of the group’s major markets,” H&M said in a statement.
“The result was also affected by increased growth-related initiatives, particularly within tech and the supply chain.”
The group said sales in the March 1-28 period were up 6% in local currencies. Excluding Russia and Belarus, where H&M has temporary closed stores, the increase was 11%.
($1 = 9.2620 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Niklas Pollard)
