H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB Six-Month Report

  H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB Six-Month Report

Business Wire

STOCKHOLM -- June 20, 2012

Regulatory News:

1 December 2011 – 31 May 2012

THE FIRST HALF-YEAR

· The H&M Group’s (STO:HMB) sales including VAT increased by 12 percent in
local currencies in the first six months of the financial year. Sales in
comparable units increased by 3 percent. Converted into SEK, sales excluding
VAT amounted to SEK 59,491 m (52,135), an increase of 14 percent.

· Profit after financial items increased by 16 percent and amounted to SEK
10,754 m (9,290). Group profit after tax was SEK 7,958 m (6,875),
corresponding to SEK 4.81 (4.15) per share.

THE SECOND QUARTER

· The H&M Group’s sales including VAT increased by 12 percent in local
currencies in the second quarter. Sales in comparable units increased by 2
percent. Converted into SEK, sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 31,658 m
(27,632), an increase of 15 percent.

· Gross profit amounted to SEK 19,546 m (17,057), corresponding to a gross
margin of 61.7 percent (61.7).

· Profit after financial items increased by 23 percent and amounted to SEK
7,053 m (5,752). Group profit after tax was SEK 5,219 m (4,257), corresponding
to SEK 3.15 (2.57) per share.

In addition to the five new markets that H&M will open in 2012, H&M plans to
open stores in several new markets in 2013. The markets where store contracts
for 2013 have so far been signed are Estonia and Indonesia.

Comments by Karl-Johan Persson, CEO

“The year started well and the positive trend continued in the second quarter.
In the second quarter we saw strong sales and profitability development, with
a profit increase of 23 percent. The spring collections have been well
received by our customers as shown by our increased market share in a fashion
retail market that continues to be challenging. H&M’s attractive customer
offering is appreciated by customers in all our 44 markets, in big cities as
well as small cities – and in both countries with strong economic growth and
countries with a tough macroeconomic climate.

Our expansion plan remains intact. We plan to open around 275 new stores net
during the full-year. We continue to open new stores in all current markets
and we will add five new markets during the year: Bulgaria, Mexico, Latvia,
Malaysia and Thailand. In addition, online sales will be launched in the
autumn in the US, the world’s largest online market.”

The information in this Interim Report is that which H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB
(publ) is required to disclose under Sweden’s Securities Market Act. It will
be released for publication at 8.00 (CET) on 20 June 2012.

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is quoted
on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. The company’s business concept is to offer fashion
and quality at the best price. In addition to H&M, the group includes the
brands COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday as well as H&M Home. The H&M Group
has more than 2,500 stores in 44 markets including franchise markets. In 2011,
sales including VAT were SEK 128,810 million and the number of employees was
more than 94,000. For further information, visit www.hm.com.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com

Contact:

Nils Vinge, IR
+46-8-796 52 50
or
Jyrki Tervonen, CFO
+46-8-796 52 77
or
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO
+46-8-796 52 33
or
Switchboard
+46-8-796 55 00