H&M underwhelms with flat fourth-quarter sales

Swedish clothing giant H&M Group reported flat sales in its fourth quarter with comparators from its now-exited Russia and Belarus business weighing on growth.

In a brief trading update ahead of its full-year results in January, the retailer said net sales in the three months to 30 November totalled SEK62.6bn (£4.7bn), only marginally up on the SEK62.4bn reported a year earlier.

The result came in slightly under the consensus estimate of SEK62.9bn.

However, excluding Russia and Belarus where stores were closed in the fourth quarter of 2022, net sales would have been 3% higher in krona terms.

In local currencies, total net sales would have fallen 4% year-on-year.

For the full financial year, net sales were up 6% at SEK236.0bn (£18.0bn). Excluding Russia and Belarus, sales growth would have been 8% in krona terms and 1% in local currencies.

Shares were up 0.3% at SEK177.32 by 0942 CET.