PARIS – The board of Hennes & Mauritz AB will propose a two-for-one stock split at its annual general meeting on April 29, whereby each of its existing shares will be divided into two new shares in a move designed to make it more appealing to investors.
Stock splits traditionally occur when a company’s share price has been steadily rising. Shares in H&M are up 41 percent since the beginning of the year on the Swedish stock exchange, and were up 0.3 percent at 440.20 Swedish krona, or $61.18 at current exchange rates, in morning trading.
The move would increase the number of A-shares in the company from 97,200,000 to 194,400,000 A-shares, and the number of B-shares from 730,336,000 to 1,460,672,000, the company said in a statement.
The board said that pending approval from the general meeting, the split would take effect between May 20 and June 18.