H&M share rises after pandemic restrictions eased in March
On Monday, the world’s second-biggest apparel retailer store H&M shares rose in the first half of March after three months while pandemic restrictions eased, allowing stores to hark back to normal.
The net sales fell 27% from a year earlier, or 21% when measured in local currencies, to 40.1 billion crowns ($4.72 billion).
“Sales development was significantly affected by the COVID-19 situation, with extensive restrictions and at most over 1,800 stores temporarily closed,” H&M said in a statement.
“Since the beginning of February, several markets have gradually allowed stores to reopen, and at the end of the quarter around 1,300 stores remained temporarily closed,” it said.
The figures implied that online sales had provided a stronger-than-expected boost in February, said RBC analyst Richard Chamberlain.
Chamberlain said most stores should be open by mid-April bar new lockdowns in Europe, H&M’s main market.
“As such, we see the potential for a strong sales recovery in the remainder of the year, with potential for gross margin to surprise on the upside, due to the weaker U.S. dollar,” he said.
