H&M: sales and margins shrink; shares drop too
(CercleFinance.com) - The H&M share is down over 6% on Wednesday after the Swedish fashion giant saw a squeeze on its sales and margins in the last quarter of 2017.
The group's fourth-quarter sales including VAT fell 4% to 58.5 billion Swedish kronor (about 6 billion euros). In local currencies, the decrease was limited to just 2%.
However, its gross margin fell to 55.4%, compared to 57% in the same period of 2016.
"The fourth quarter was no worse than expected, and the full-year dividend has been held, but the balance sheet has deteriorated and recovery looks a long way off," commented analysts at UBS in a reaction note.
H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson stated that the group is "accelerating (its) transformation in a rapidly changing industry" due to digitalisation.
In the meantime, the H&M share - which is traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm index - fell by 6.3% to 145.9 Swedish kronor in morning trading this Wednesday.
Copyright (c) 2018 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
The group's fourth-quarter sales including VAT fell 4% to 58.5 billion Swedish kronor (about 6 billion euros). In local currencies, the decrease was limited to just 2%.
However, its gross margin fell to 55.4%, compared to 57% in the same period of 2016.
"The fourth quarter was no worse than expected, and the full-year dividend has been held, but the balance sheet has deteriorated and recovery looks a long way off," commented analysts at UBS in a reaction note.
H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson stated that the group is "accelerating (its) transformation in a rapidly changing industry" due to digitalisation.
In the meantime, the H&M share - which is traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm index - fell by 6.3% to 145.9 Swedish kronor in morning trading this Wednesday.
Copyright (c) 2018 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.