Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) increased its sales in Romania by 40 pct in the 2015 fiscal year, ended on November 30, to SEK 1.796 bln (EUR 193 mln). In the previous year, the company recorded sales of SEK 1.28 bln (EUR 138 mln).
In the fourth quarter alone (September-November 2015), H&M sales in Romania increased by 25 pct compared to the corresponding period of the previous year to SEK 522 mln.
H&M opened four stores in Romania in the December 2014 – November 2015 period, and had 42 units at the end of the fiscal year.
“The group’s other brands, COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and & Other Stories, are planned to continue expanding at the same fast rate as in 2015. The main focus of this expansion will be on COS, which will open most of its new stores in existing markets but will also open stores in five new markets: the Czech Republic, Romania, Latvia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia (via franchise),” H&M said in its 2015 FY report.
In Bulgaria H&M sales grew by 31 pct to SEK 511 mln (EUR 54.9 mln). In the fourth quarter alone, H&M sales totaled SEK 148 mln, up by 19 pct. H&M opened two stores in Bulgaria, and had 18 units at the end of the fiscal year.
Sales in Slovenia increased by 7.0 pct to SEK 529 mln in the 2015 fiscal year. H&M operated 12 stores in Slovenia at the end of November 2015.
Sales in Serbia increased 30 pct to SEK 318 mln (EUR 34.1 mln) in the 2015 fiscal year compared with SEK 245 mln a year earlier. H&M operated six stores in Serbia at the end of November 2015, after opening one new store in the country in the 2015 fiscal year.
Sales in Croatia increased by 6.0 pct to SEK 817 mln (EUR 87.8 mln) in the 2015 fiscal year compared with SEK 773 mln a year earlier. H&M operated 15 stores in the country at the end of November 2015, after opening one new store in the fiscal year 2015.
H&M sales worldwide increased by 19 pct in the 2015 fiscal year to SEK 209.92 bln (EUR 22.6 bln).
H&M was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.