STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB or H&M Group (HNNMY.PK, HMRZF.PK, HEN.L) reported Friday that its first-quarter profit after tax declined to 803 million Swedish kronor from last year's 1.37 billion kronor. Earnings per share were 0.49 krona, down from 0.83 krona a year ago.
Profit after tax in the previous year was positively affected by one-off tax income of 399 million kronor as a result of the US tax reform.
The quarter's pre-tax profit was 1.04 billion kronor, down from last year's 1.26 billion kronor, negatively affected by the drop in sales in Germany and by costs associated mainly with the replacement of the online platform in Germany.
H&M group's net sales increased 10 percent to 51.02 billion kronor from prior year's 46.18 billion kronor. In local currencies, net sales increased by 4 percent.
Sales developed well both in stores and online in many markets, including Sweden which grew by 11 percent, the UK by 8 percent, Poland by 15 percent, China by 16 percent and India by 42 percent in local currencies.
Gross profit increased 11 percent from last year to 25.53 billion kronor, corresponding to a gross margin of 50.0 percent, up from 49.9 percent last year.
Regarding the current quarter, the company said its net sales in the period March 1 to March 27 increased by 7 percent in local currencies compared to the corresponding period the previous year.
H&M will be launched on Myntra and Jabong, India's largest e-commerce marketplaces, later this year.
In 2019 the H&M group plans a net addition of 175 new stores. Most of the new H&M stores will open in growth markets, while the number of H&M stores in Europe is expected to reduce by 50.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
