HM Stocks Surge After Sharp Recovery
HM Stocks Surge After Sharp Recovery
After releasing its preliminary quarterly profit, HM stocks instantaneously jumped by 12%. The retail giant is on the road for its biggest hike in almost six months.
Per-share price reached SKr 160.30 at the stock market open in Sweden on Tuesday.
HM clothing sales revamped from a 50% plunge in the previous quarter to a modest slump of 19% fall in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.
From the same period a year ago, it generated 62.57 billion kronor compared to this year’s 50.87 kronor.
Although sales are still in the red, the company is optimistic that they are on the right track towards profitability.
The company will report final earning for the period starting June through August on October 1.
So far, HM stock shares dropped at roughly 26% for the year after experiencing sluggish sales, especially during the early and mid- onset of the pandemic.
A sudden shift in consumer preference contributed to the slowdown. The pandemic put a freeze on non-essential spending, including on clothes.
This is further intensified by the shift from the traditional shopping on a brick-and-mortar facility to online stores with which a sizeable amount of the company’s sales came from.
HM Clothing and Digital Transformation
Now that recovery is more attainable for the clothing retailer, HM clothing plans to invest more in artificial intelligence to enhance business positioning on customer experience.
The firm asserted its commitment on digitization through using more effective technology infrastructure amid the rapid fashion retail industry movement.
HM started to advance towards artificial intelligence in 2016. The company said that the shift contributed much to its overall operations, including improving the quality of the products.
As it continuously seeks to make itself as a pronounced “data-driven” company, it leverages its streamlined value chain processes generated from technology.
Advanced analytics and AI have been key components of its transformation plans in the last few years. It even has a separate entity called H&M Advanced Analytics and AI unit, which oversees its initiatives towards digitization.
