Sweden's cheap'n chic fashion chain H&M bucked the economic gloom and doom today to report strong profit gains for its fourth quarter and forecast more to come this year.
Hennes & Mauritz, which has nine stores in Ireland, said its year to November 2008 net profit rose 12.5% from a year earlier to 15.29 billion kronor (€1.44 billion) with sales up 13% at 88.53 billion kronor.
For the three months to November, net profit rose 9.4% to 5.08 billion kronor on sales of 26.3 billion kronor, up 15.3%.
The company, known for its cheap but fashionable clothing, said growth and development opportunities were positive and it expected to create between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs in the current year.
