PARIS — Hennes & Mauritz AB said sales including VAT, converted into Swedish krona, rose 7 percent in the first quarter to 54.4 billion kronor, or $6.02 billion.
In local currency, sales including VAT rose by 4 percent in the period from Dec. 1, 2016, to Feb. 28, 2017. Sales excluding VAT amounted to 47 billion kronor, or $5.21 billion, an increase of 8 percent. H&M is scheduled to publish full, first-quarter results on March 30.
In February, H&M posted a 3 percent sales increase in local currencies compared with the same month the previous year, when adjusted for negative calendar effects. These amounted to approximately 4 percentage points, since February 2017 had one day less than February 2016, which was a leap year.
The fast-fashion giant had a total of 4,393 stores worldwide as of Feb. 28, versus 3,970 a year earlier. All dollar rates are calculated at average exchange rates for the period concerned.