The H&M group’s strong recovery continues with more full-price sales and good cost control. Sales development continued to be affected by the ongoing pandemic, with considerable variation between markets. Lockdowns and restrictions have continued to hamper development, particularly in Asia. However, as restrictions have been eased, sales in store have picked up in many markets while online sales have continued to increase. Excluding Asia and Oceania, sales in local currencies were back at the same level as before the pandemic.

At the start of the third quarter around 180 stores were temporarily closed. The open stores have had restrictions on, for example, opening hours, number of customers and store space. At the end of the quarter most of the H&M group’s markets still had restrictions resulting in reduced footfall and around 100 of the stores remained temporarily closed.

* The amount is provisional and may deviate slightly from the nine-month report, covering the period 1 December 2020 – 31 August 2021, that will be published on 30 September 2021.