He added: “Sales were also good in the third quarter even though sales in August were negatively affected by the unseasonably warm weather in many of our large European markets”.
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The world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, which has 254 stores in Britain, said its United Kingdom sales jumped 21% to 4,104 Swedish kronor (£319 million) in the three months to the end of August compared to a year ago as its collections were well received across its brands. “As far as the overall Chinese market goes in the third quarter we have heard that there has been a slight slowdown from very a strong sales pace increase to somewhat calmer levels”, Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson said.
Societe Generale analyst Anne Critchlow said: “Current trading looks a bit slower than consensus had hoped at this stage”.
H&M shares dropped 1.7 per cent by 1042 GMT, slightly underperforming a 1.3 per cent slide in the STOXX Europe 600 Retail Index.
She said the shares are likely to perform in line with the market as they underperformed last month.
The group’s closely watched gross margin slipped to 55.9% from 58.3%, mainly because of the stronger dollar.
In June, H&M had said it expected the strong dollar to lead to a rise in purchasing or sourcing costs this year. H&M sources most of its clothes in Asia, where it pays in dollars. It is more exposed to dollar strength than Inditex.
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (HNNMY.PK,HMRZF.PK,HEN.L) reported third-quarter profit after tax of 5.31 billion Swedish kronor compared to 5.30 billion kronor, last year.
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The company says it plans to open some 400 new stores by year-end and that the H&M Beauty section launched successfully in July, expanding to some 700 stores in 28 markets. A flagship Cos. store is soon to open in the heart of Beijing’s top shopping district, selling pants and blouses for about $100.
