Swedish fashion giant H&M has posted a bigger-than-expected jump in sales for May, driven by a weak krone against other currencies.

H&M sales beat forecasts

Sales rose by 10% during May, the final month in H&M’s second quarter, on a local currency basis. Analysts had forecast a sales rise of around 8%.

The jump drove H&M’s second-quarter revenues up 21% year on year to Skr45.9bn (£3.62bn), beating predictions of Skr44.7bn (£3.52bn).

But figures from German news site TextilWirtschaft showed sales in the country, which is H&M’s biggest market, fell 5% during May. H&M did not provide a country-by-country breakdown.

The retailer said krone weakness against most of its sales currencies had a positive effect on reported sales. Including VAT, sales were up 10% in local currencies and 20% in krone, H&M said.

Its results came a week after the fashion giant’s biggest rival Inditex reported forecast-busting first-quarter profits.

The group, which owns Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka, said net profits jumped 28% to €521m (£377.2m) during the three months ending April 30.  

Inditex added that like-for-like sales rose across all of its 88 markets, while total revenues grew 17% to €4.4bn (£3.2bn).

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