Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB Thursday reported a 9% rise in same-store sales in June after its sales a year earlier were weighed by slow consumer spending in the economic downturn.
H&M, the world's third-largest fashion chain after U.S.-based Gap Inc. and Spain's Inditex S.A., slightly underperformed expectations for an 11% rise in stores open longer than one year.
The company's total sales, including sales in new stores, were up 20% in June, just below forecasts of a 21% rise.
A strong sales increase had been expected after H&M in its second-quarter report last month said its total sales from June 1 to June 22 were up 22% compared with the same period a year earlier.
Thursday's sales report comes after H&M's rival Gap last week said its same-store sales in June were largely flat compared with a year earlier.
H&M said its total number of stores world-wide increased 13% to 2,062 in June from 1,827 a year earlier.
The company, which is expanding rapidly in markets world-wide, last month said it expects to open 180 new stores in the second half of 2010 in countries including Germany, the U.S. and China.
