Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz said it’s increasing markdowns this quarter after accumulating a record pile of unsold garments worth more than $4 billion.
Operating profit fell 62 per cent to the lowest level in more than a decade as clearance sales failed to reduce quantities of T-shirts and jeans that customers had passed over. The stock slumped to the lowest level since 2005.
“The worrying sign again comes from unabated piling-up of inventory,” said Chris Chaviaras, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. H&M’s already-downbeat forecast for the start of 2018 was exacerbated by unseasonably warm European weather
Operating profit fell 62 per cent to the lowest level in more than a decade as clearance sales failed to reduce quantities of T-shirts and jeans that customers had passed over. The stock slumped to the lowest level since 2005.
“The worrying sign again comes from unabated piling-up of inventory,” said Chris Chaviaras, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. H&M’s already-downbeat forecast for the start of 2018 was exacerbated by unseasonably warm European weather