About 40 H&M Stores Will Be Closed

Swedish retail clothing company H&M has launched efforts to adjust its costs to reduce the effects of the coronavirus. According to the company statement, approximately 40 H&M stores will be closed.

Trying to Balance the Effects of the Outbreak

The coronavirus, which emerged in December 2019 and spread to more than 200 countries, has greatly affected the global economy. Companies that closed their stores as part of the fight against the epidemic went into a troubled period due to the long duration of the epidemic. In this context, companies that want to balance their economic costs started to close their stores and factories one by one. Swedish retail clothing company H & M is among those affected by the outbreak. H&M suffered 6.48 billion Swedish Krone pre-tax losses in the second quarter of the year. The median estimates of experts participating in the Bloomberg survey ranging from SEK 5.42 billion to SEK 6.94 billion were recorded as SEK 6.10 billion. H&M’s gross profit margin was 46.3 percent in the second quarter. The expectations of the experts who participated in the survey were 46.6 percent. The Swedish company lost 4.99 billion SEK in the second quarter of the year, exceeding the expectation of 4.79 billion SEK. Online sales increased by 32 percent in local currency. Total sales in local currency decreased by 25 percent between 1 and 24 June.

Around 40 Stores Will Be Closed

In a statement made by the Swedish company, it was stated that 48 of the group's 51 online stores are open. In the continuation of the statement, it was pointed out that the number of stores is expected to decrease by 40 in 2020. Expecting discounts to increase compared to sales in the third quarter, the company will continue to adjust costs to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.