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H&M CEO to Bangladesh: raise minimum wages

The head of Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), Karl-Johan Persson, on Wednesday urged Bangladesh to allow raises to its minimum wage, the Financial Times said, amid worker unrest following the world's worst single garment industry disaster, which killed more than 1,100 people.

H&M CEO to Bangladesh: raise minimum wages

“I want the salaries to be revised yearly, as in most other countries. So we’re definitely willing to pay more but we have to find a good, sustainable way for the workers and for the country as well,” Persson told the FT in an interview.

The chief executive of the world’s second biggest clothing retailer added:

“I would happily sit around a table and talk to all the other big buyers from Bangladesh.”

The minimum wage in Bangladesh has remained below $40 per month since 2010, while inflation has been running at more than 8.0 percent per year, and H&M said in its annual report in March that it had been working on the minimum wage issue with officials in Dhaka for several years.

On Sunday, the government said it had set up a commission to raise the level.

H&M was one of the clothing giants which said on Monday that it would sign up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety following the disaster at a garment factory that supplied Western retailers.

The agreement, which is due to be formally signed in the coming days, commits retailers to paying for factory repairs and ensuring an efficient system for building and fire safety inspection.

Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest exporter of clothing. Conditions in the country have come under intense scrutiny since a nine-storey building outside the capital collapsed on April 24, killing 1,127 people, most of them garment workers.

AFP/The Local/dl

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BUSINESS

Swedish retailer H&M sees profits slump after Russia exit

Swedish fashion retailer H&M reportedĀ a sizeable drop in third-quarter profit on Thursday following its decision to leave the Russian market.

Swedish retailer H&M sees profits slump after Russia exit

The world’s number two clothing group is among a slew of Western companies that have exited Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

H&M paused all sales in the country in March and announced in July that it would wind down operations, although it would reopen stores for “a limited period of time” to offload its remaining inventory.

The company said Thursday its net profit fell to 531 million kronor ($47 million) in the third quarter, down 89 percent from the same period last year. “The third quarter has largely been impacted by our decision to pause sales and then wind down the business in Russia,” chief executive Helena Helmersson said in a statement.

The group said in its earnings statement that it would launch cost-cutting measures that would result in savings totalling two billion kronor.

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