H&M expansion includes PH

STOCKHOLM—Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB said Thursday it is on track to begin operations in the Philippines in October and in South Africa, Peru, Taiwan and Macau next year.

It also plans to expand its business over the coming year by increasing online sales and opening new stores, particularly in its largest markets, the US and China.

CEO Karl-Johan Persson says the Swedish company is in a “very intensive investment phase” and plans to open eight to 10 online markets next year on top of 375 new stores in locations worldwide.

“Within online shopping, we are in the midst of an exciting expansion,” Persson said. “We see our online store as a very important complement to our physical stores as the online store makes it possible for us to increase our level of service and availability to our customers.”

His comments came as the company reported a near-20 percent increase in thirdquarter net profit to 5.3 billion kronor ($742 million) from 4.4 billion kronor in the same period a year earlier. Sales grew to 38.8 billion kronor ($5.4 billion) from 32 billion kronor a year earlier.

H&M opened new online markets this year in France, Italy and Spain and China, which received “a very good response from customers,” Persson said. However, opening operations in India had been postponed from this fall until 2015.