H&M bucks the market trend and continues global expansion plans

According to media reports such as the British Financial Times, although the sales of Swedish clothing retailers in August fell by 3% year-on-year and the sales of the original old stores fell by 11% year-on-year, the person in charge of the company stated that the company’s sales in Europe, including Europe, fell by 3% year-on-year. Expansion plans in the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and other parts of the world will not be affected; although the current market situation is challenging, we are still optimistic about the prospects. H&M’s sales in France, Spain, and the United States were relatively poor in August, but sales in Germany were still strong. H&M’s pre-tax profit from June to August totaled US$691 million, a year-on-year increase of 4%. H&M is currently the third largest clothing retailer in the world, behind Gap in the United States and Inditex in Spain. By the end of August, it had 1,840 stores around the world, compared with a total of 1,618 stores a year ago. Since 2007, H&M has successively opened branches in Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Beijing in China. In April 2009, H&M continued to add new stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and other places in China. H&M said it has adjusted the number of new stores planned for 2009 from 225 to 240.