Swedish apparel retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB or H&M (HMRZF.PK, HNNMY.PK) posted lower second-quarter profit after tax of 4.66 billion Swedish kronor, or 2.81 kronor per share, compared with last year's 5.22 billion kronor, or 3.15 kronor per share. Quarterly profit after financial items amounted to 6.125 billion kronor, down from 7.05 billion kronor a year earlier.
During the second quarter, the Group sales, including VAT, grew by 5 percent in local currencies, but when converted into Swedish kronor, sales before VAT reached 31.635 billion kronor, with sales in comparable units decreasing by 4 percent. According to the company, continued substantial negative currency translation effects occurred as a result of the continued strengthening of the Swedish krona against most sales countries' currencies. The reported sales of 36.92 billion kronor, including VAT, would have been about 1.8 billion kronor higher using the same currency rates as in the previous year.
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