H&M group reports sales growth for full-year

H&M group has today reported a sales growth of 5% including VAT to SEK 244.3bn (£21.4bn) in the full-year ending 30 November 2018, going against the current wave of down-trading from many of its competitors.

Sales excluding VAT increased to SEK 210.4bn (£18.4bn). In the fourth quarter of 2018, from 1 September to 30 November 30, sales including VAT increased 12% from a year earlier to SEK 56.43bn (£4.94bn).

Though H&M had fallen behind some of its biggest competitors in the move to online sales, its rapid transition to the web has started to pay off, clearly contributing heavily to improved sales and increased market share in a tough current trading environment. A statement from the company released today reads: “The H&M group continued to grow globally during 2018 in a rapidly changing fashion industry.”

An element of the company’s figures boost will have come from currency effects, and it’s as yet unclear as to how much the sales growth can be attributed to heavy discounting in the period. The figures are also provisional and may deviate slightly from the full-year report that will be published on 31 January, 2019.