H&M has revealed a massive drop in profits in its UK arm, but insisted the business performed well given the tough trading conditions affecting the retail industry as a whole.
According to accounts filed at Companies House on Friday, H&M saw pre-tax profit for the financial year ending November 30, 2018, plunge from £37.3 million to £10.72 million.
This equates to a year-on-year drop of 71.2 per cent. The Swedish fashion giant’s operating profit in the UK for the same full-year period also plummeted – from £38.71 million down to £12.21 million, or a 68.4 per cent year-on-year decline.
While H&M’s overall revenue in the UK slipped a marginal 0.75 per cent year-on-year from £1.06 billion to £1.05 billion, H&M said in-store sales increased 0.2 per cent.
In addition, gross margin grew from 52.1 per cent in 2017 to 53.3 per cent in 2018. H&M’s UK gross profit increased 1.5 per cent to £561.76 million, but net profit crashed 74.3 per cent year-on-year to £7.48 million.
