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Swedish retailer H&M sees profits slump after Russia exit

Swedish fashion retailer H&M reported 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
A woman walks past the closed H&M in Moscow back n March 2022. Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP)

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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Why North Korean hackers could leave Sweden short of alcohol this weekend

If you're thinking of quitting the booze, now may be a good time, as Sweden may run low on alcohol in just a few days.

Why North Korean hackers could leave Sweden short of alcohol this weekend

The reason? Problems down the distribution chain, as a result of a ransomware attack by a North Korean hacker group on Skanlog, a logistics firm that delivers to Sweden’s state-run alcohol monopoly Systembolaget, reports business site Dagens Industri.

Systembolaget confirmed to The Local that this may have a knock-on effect on supplies.

“This is one of our distributors, they deliver up to 25 percent of the alcohol. But we do have other suppliers as well, we have to scale up the deliveries. So I cannot say exactly what the shortage will look like in the stores,” Systembolaget press officer Sofia Sjöman Waas said.

Not only the weekend is coming up, but also Walpurgis Night on April 30th, a popular party day in university towns.

“It is too early to say what will happen. Small stores around the country have one delivery once a week and this might not affect you at all. Other stores have deliveries every day,” Sjöman Waas told The Local.

It’s unlikely that shelves will run completely dry, but some products – mostly wine, but also beer and liquor – may be out of stock.

“But in general our consumers don’t buy a lot. They come in, they buy a couple of bottles, and they consume it within a couple of days or a week,” said Sjöman Waas.

Article by Emma Löfgren and Gearóid Ó Droighneáin

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