H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB Full-year Report

FULL-YEAR

• The H&M Group’s sales including VAT increased in local currencies by 9 percent during the financial year. Sales in comparable units were unchanged. Converted into SEK, sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 128,562 m (120,799), an increase of 6 percent.
• Gross profit amounted to SEK 76,033 m (71,871), corresponding to a gross margin of 59.1 percent (59.5).
• Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 22,526 m (22,285). Profit for the year was negatively affected by currency translation effects of approximately SEK 600 m compared to the previous year. The Group’s profit after tax increased to SEK 17,152 m (16,867), corresponding to SEK 10.36 (10.19) per share.
• Strong expansion during the year with a net addition of 356 (304) new stores. China and the US were the largest expansion markets.
• More than 12,000 new jobs were created in the H&M Group in 2013. The number of employees amounted to more than 116,000 (104,000) by the end of the year.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The H&M Group’s sales including VAT increased in local currencies by 13 percent in the fourth quarter. Sales in comparable units increased by 3 percent. Converted into SEK, sales excluding VAT amounted to SEK 36,495 m (32,502).
• Gross profit increased by 11 percent and amounted to SEK 22,189 m (20,017), corresponding to a gross margin of 60.8 percent (61.6). The difference in the gross margin is mainly due to currency exchange rate effects arising in connection with payments for the Group’s flow of goods and to year-end effects. Apart from these factors, the gross margin was more or less at the same level as in the fourth quarter 2012.
• Profit after financial items amounted to SEK 7,337 m (6,636), an increase of 11 percent. The Group’s profit after tax amounted to SEK 5,608 m (5,287), corresponding to SEK 3.39 (3.19) per share.

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• The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of SEK 9.50 (9.50) per share for the financial year 2012/2013
• Sales in December 2013 increased by 10 percent in local currencies compared to the corresponding month the previous year. Calendar adjusted sales increased just above 12 percent
• Sales in January 2014 are expected to increase by 15 percent in local currencies compared to th same month the previous year.
• H&M plans a net addition of around 375 new stores for the financial year 2013/2014.
• Australia and the Philippines will become new H&M countries in 2014. In addition to this, a couple of  other new H&M markets are planned to open at the end of 2014.
• Four new H&M online markets are planned to open in 2014. France will open in spring/summer 2014. An additional three large online markets are planned to open later in the year.

Comments by CEO Karl-Johan Persson follow on the next page.

Comments by CEO Karl-Johan Persson

“2013 ended strongly with well-received autumn collections, which increased our sales in the fourth quarter by 13 percent in local currencies. Profits after financial items increased by 11 percent to SEK 7.3 billion. This is a good result considering the substantial long-term investments that we are making in areas such as IT, online, new brands and broadening our product range.

Examples of these investments are our new fashion brand, & Other Stories, which has received a fantastic response as well as our extended H&M Sport range that was launched this January. The sports collections were designed together with Swedish Olympic athletes, with a focus on function, fit, design and comfort.

Another area where we are continuing to invest is online sales, which are becoming increasingly important. Our online sales continue to develop very well and hm.com, which is one of the world’s most visited fashion websites, allows us to reach even more customers. In August we launched our online store in the US, with a very good response from customers. We are continuing our online expansion by opening more new online markets in 2014; France during spring/summer 2014 followed by an additional three large new online markets that are planned to open later in the year.

We continue to work intensively on sustainability in many different areas. H&M Conscious is the name given to our work towards a more sustainable future within fashion. Our vision is that H&M’s entire operations should be managed in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. We are therefore working daily to offer our customers increased sustainability in all our collections.

2013 was a year when we opened many new stores – on average, we opened more than one store each day. Today we have more than 3,100 stores in 53 countries and just over 116,000 employees. We are continuing to create more new jobs and we welcomed more than 12,000 new colleagues net during the year. Our strong expansion will continue in 2014, we plan to open around 375 new stores net and Australia and the Philippines will become new H&M countries. In addition to these countries, a couple of other new H&M markets are planned to open at the end of 2014.

The financial year 2014 has got off to a good start, with strong sales development in December and January. Although there are still macro-economic challenges in several of our markets, we are optimistic about 2014 which will be an exciting year with new countries and new opportunities. We have a strong belief in our offering and are convinced that we will strengthen our market position even further during the year.”

CONTACT PERSONS
Nils Vinge, IR                                       +46-8-796 52 50
Karl-Johan Persson, CEO                    +46-8-796 55 00 (switchboard)
Jyrki Tervonen, CFO                           +46-8-796 55 00 (switchboard)             

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ)
SE-106 38 Stockholm
Phone: +46-8-796 55 00, Fax: +46-8-24 80 78, E-mail: info@hm.com