H&M Group posts stronger profitability even as first-half sales total 104.4B kronor and fall year-on-year, with operating profit excluding one-off costs at 8.1B kronor.The retailer reduces about 128 stores to roughly 4,038, shrinks inventory by about 10% to 34.94B kronor, and spends $69.5M on restructuring while online now exceeds 30% of revenue.CEO
Daniel Ervér says tighter inventory controls and supply-chain changes boost margins but have limited sales, and the group opens stores in Rio de Janeiro and plans entries in Paraguay,
Argentina, Malta and Azerbaijan while expanding through
Nordstrom in the US.