PARIS — Hennes & Mauritz AB said revenue growth picked up in January.
Sales in local currencies, including VAT, rose 8 percent year-on-year during the month, up from a 6 percent increase in December.
Calendar effects at the end of the month had a negative impact of around 2 percent, the company said, but the results still fell short of an earlier estimate of 11 percent.
The retailer had a total of 4,380 stores worldwide as of Jan. 31, versus 3,958 a year earlier, including stores for its flagship H&M as well as additional brands COS, Cheap Monday, Weekday, & Other Stories and Monki.
H&M faces currency headwinds and a difficult overall climate for high-street retailers that appear set to continue in 2017, the head of investor relations Nils Vinge described in a Jan. 31 conference with analysts and journalists regarding the company’s 2016 annual report.
Despite some shortfalls in sales growth and profit last year, the fast-fashion group said it planned to increase its capital expenditure in 2017 to between 14 billion and 14.5 billion Swedish kronor, or $1.57 billion to $1.62 billion at current exchange, compared with 13.3 billion Swedish kronor, or $1.57 billion, in the prior year to Nov. 30.
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The sum will be invested in continuing to expand H&M’s store footprint, improving omnichannel functions and, as reported, introducing one or two new brands over the period, Vinge said.
H&M will publish quarterly results on March 30.