Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the six-month results for 2016. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, at which time, if you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Wednesday, the 22nd of June 2016. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Nils Vinge. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, welcome to this telephone conference on the occasion of H&M six-month report 2016. Our CFO, Jyrki Tervonen, is with me today and will be happy to answer your questions after the presentation. You'll find the presentation slides to this telephone conference on hm.com. Sales, including VAT in the second quarter, amounted to SEK 54 billion, and profit before tax to SEK 7 billion. In local currencies, sales increased by 5% in the second quarter, with a sales increase in March and April was significantly below our plan. These two months were negatively affected by cold spring weather in many of our markets. In May, sales developed much better, with an increase of 9% or 11% when adjusted for calendar effects. Gross profit in the second quarter was SEK 27 billion, corresponding to a gross margin of 57.6% compared to 59.4% last year.
Markdowns in relation to sales were 0.9 percentage points higher than Q2 2015. The increase is explained mainly by the fact that spring garments did not sell as well as planned due to the unfavorable weather in many of our important markets. The combined effect on purchasing costs from the external factors remained negative. This is mainly due to the impact of the stronger US dollar. Looking at selling and administrative costs. Cost control in the group remains good. In the second quarter, SG&A increased by 6% to SEK 20 billion. In local currencies, the increase was 8%. Costs in comparable stores were somewhat lower than in Q2 last year. The increase in SG&A is mainly related to the expansion and the long-term investments within IT and online mainly. Profit after financial items thus amounted to SEK 7 billion in the quarter.
Net profit was SEK 5.4 billion compared to SEK 6.5 billion and equaling earnings per share of SEK 3.24 compared to SEK 3.19. Looking at some key figures. Stock in trade on the 31st of May amounted to SEK 25.3 billion, an increase of 29% in SEK. The increase in the stock in trade is mainly due to the expansion through stores and online and to the strengthening of the US dollar. The increase is also related to bookkeeping effects of more than SEK 1 billion, arising from our previously communicated change in the process around invoice management for sourcing. In addition, the increase is explained by the fact that sales in the quarter were below plan. This has led to higher stock in trade than planned at the end of the second quarter. Cash flow from current operations was SEK 12.6 billion, down from SEK 13.6 billion.
Investments in terms of CapEx totaled SEK 5.6 billion, an increase from SEK 4.7. Investments covered mainly new stores, but also IT and logistics, and of course, the expansion of online. For 2016, CapEx is expected to be SEK 12.5 billion-SEK 13 billion, which is somewhat lower than the previous guidance of SEK 13.5 billion-SEK 14 billion. Now some words on our expansion. The combination of strong brands, an extensive store network, and a successful e-commerce business puts us in a unique market position for continued growth. Although e-commerce is growing fast, there is still a great potential for the H&M group to continue to expand through physical stores. For us, our continued focus is to grow both through physical stores and online, as well as to integrate these two channels. We're opening 11 new H&M online markets this year. Nine of them opened in the second quarter.
These markets are Ireland, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Japan, and Greece. All have got off to a good start. We now offer online shopping in 32 markets. A further two markets will go online this autumn. It's Canada and South Korea. Next year, we plan to continue our fast rollout of new online markets through the group. Looking at our store network. Today, we have more than 4,000 stores in strong retail locations in a total of 62 markets. We're signing very favorable store leases, and this year we plan a net addition of approximately 425 stores. We're also opening three new H&M markets this year. Puerto Rico, where we had a successful opening in San Juan on the ninth of June, and New Zealand and Cyprus, where the first H&M stores will open this autumn.
Looking further ahead, in 2017, we plan to open another four or five new H&M markets, of which Colombia will be one. Being able to offer customers a selection of brands with different identities is another important part of our long-term work to further strengthen our future market position. Our new brands, COS, & Other Stories, Monki, Weekday, and Cheap Monday, are becoming an increasingly important part of the group. In 2016, the main focus of expansion will be on COS. COS will add five new markets during the year. COS has a very strong momentum, pointing towards a turnover of around SEK 10 billion already by next year. & Other Stories, Monki, and Weekday will also expand in new as well as in existing markets. Now, before we move on to the Q&A session, just some words on current developments.
During the first three weeks of June, sales were up 7% in local currencies compared with the corresponding period last year. This should be seen in the light of a strong June last year when sales increased by 14%. Looking at market conditions regarding sourcing, the negative US dollar effect, which has affected purchasing costs unfavorably for a long time, will have a negative impact also on purchasing through the third quarter. With prevailing FX rates, the dollar effect will be neutral on purchasing costs for the fourth quarter compared to the corresponding quarter the previous year. It has been a challenging first half year for fashion retail in general and also for us. As always, there are things that we could have done better.
We are convinced that we can improve our sales and earnings in the second half of the year, considering the actions we are taking in combination with a gradual easing of the negative US dollar effect, mainly in Q4. We have a strong plan for 2017, so we feel optimistic about the future. Now we're happy to take your questions. As usual, please remember to only ask one question at a time. Thank you.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you do wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the hash key. Your first question comes from the line of Jamie Merriman . Please ask your question.
Yes, good afternoon, Jamie Merriman , Bernstein . I have a question regarding the focus you want to have on integrating stores and online. You say you want to further integrate these channels. The question is, how far do you want to go in a click-and-collect model? What time frame should we eventually expect to see some changes? Thank you.
Yes, this is an ongoing work and click-and-collect is always asked on these calls and it's of course one of the many features we look into, but I can't give you a time frame of when that will be launched.
At the moment we are having a test with click and collect and it's not looking into each feature on itself. It's the whole package of different features which will integrate the physical store and the online channel. We are looking, as Nils said, in several different features and projects. One is click and collect. We have rolled out online returns in stores in 10 countries and continuing to roll out. We have scan and buy in all countries. We are looking into new easier payment alternatives. Also looking into different delivery models and how to handle the last mile in a good way. It's a lot of different, and we are working on it. In some parts we have come quite a bit on our journey and others we are testing.
Do you have an idea of where these tests are taking place?
No, I mean, that's the good thing about having so many markets, different places that we can test. What's important, I'd like to underline, is that already by now we have one of the most visited fashion sites, and it's a very large, important part of the business already. It's growing fast and it's profitable. Of course, we intend to take it to the next step, and as we write in the report, the plan is, of course, to integrate the channels even more. That it's very interesting potential going forward.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Charles Mills from Deutsche Bank. Please ask your question.
Yes, good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
I have a number of questions, but I will ask one at a time. The first one is on your sales performance in China, where I interpret that you had flat local currency sales despite the fact that the store count was up over 30% year-over-year. Why is that sales performance so bad?
As we talked about before, and also connection to Q1, we're happy with the total situation for us and what we've done in China, and it's a very profitable business. However, the last two, three quarters, we're not happy with the top line. Of course, there are many reasons for that. First of all, it's in the general market has slowed down. Again, there are things that we could have done better and that we look into, and there's a lot of focus on improving that.
Could you elaborate on what you think you've not done right so far?
No, of course, this is for competitive reasons, not something we keep for ourselves. There are always things we can improve, absolutely. Again, this is nothing dramatic. We've been in the business for many, many years, and in every market, we've had situations or times when we had to look into how we can improve things. This is in Germany, the U.S., Sweden, the U.K., every market.
Of course, when expanding so quickly in China, there is, for sure, internal cannibalism, also causing negative like- figures. That way, of course, over time we'll handle with a flexible rent set up that will turn over rents, et cetera.
Thank you. My second question relates to your inventory position. I acknowledge the accounting difference, the currency, that seems like an even higher than perhaps ideal position than was the case last quarter or the quarter before that. Do you think that markdown will be a big problem again in the third quarter?
When it comes to the inventory levels, it is higher than we planned, for sure. Even though we take into account the accounting effect and our expansion, et cetera, the main reason is that we had had a sales performance, especially in March and April, which was quite a lot below our own expectations. We had a high reduction pace in the second quarter, we have a higher stock than planned for going into the third quarter. There is, for sure, an obvious risk for higher reductions, it is not the guidance because it is still over two months to go in this third quarter. For sure, it is higher than we planned.
Great. I will restrict myself to one final question, which is why have you lowered your CapEx guidance? You have stuck with your store opening guidance. Is it just a flow effect or?
No. It is a guidance. When we enter the year, in connection with the year-end closing, we give a guidance, we always say it is a moving target. A lot of projects we have not started to negotiate. It is a moving target, our best forecast for now is that it will be somewhere between SEK 12.5 billion-SEK 13 billion using the exchange rate which was prevailing at the year-end. It is still at 425 stores net that we are planning for. It is a moving target, we have been successful in our negotiations and finding really good store locations to good terms.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Chiara Battistini. Please ask your question.
Hello. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Can I also ask on the U.S., which has also slowed further in quarter two, could you please provide more color on that, please? Thank you.
It's true. We had a pretty strong start of the quarter, but the general fashion apparel market in the U.S. has been under pressure and also weather conditions, et cetera. I'm afraid there's not much more I can add more than that we still see an interesting potential for us to grow, and we have a strong position, and we get good terms when we negotiate new stores. The online is performing very well in the U.S.
Great. Thank you. If I may ask another question. I have noticed that you have raised 5 billion of short-term debt, which you have not done for years and years. What are the reasons for that, please?
Yeah, it is correct that we have taken out loans in the quarter. It is approximately 5 billion SEK. It is to improve our liquidity in the Swedish company, H&M PPC AB, which is handling our purchasing and payments for our merchandise or our commercial goods for all our subsidiaries in different sales countries. The reason why we choose to go externally instead of taking it from our subsidiaries is that it is a very exceptional situation on the lending market, where a company with a strong balance sheet, as we have at H&M, can actually lend money and get paid for it. We choose that way of doing it instead of taking away money from our subsidiaries, where we still get positive interest in many countries. That is the simple reason.
Understood. We might see that done more often going forward?
Yeah. If the lending market looks like this where a strong company with a strong balance sheet can receive negative interest. That means that we will get paid for taking that.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Geoffrey Ruddell from Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question.
Oh, hi, Nils. Actually, I was just about to ask about the debt as well. I'll pass. Thank you.
Okay.
The next question comes from the line of Jess Laurie. Please ask your question.
Yeah. Hi, team.
Hi, there.
Just a straightforward one, really. When you look back at your products for the spring-summer season, do you think there are things that you could have done different at a product level? Put another way, what gives you confidence that weather has been the biggest driver of the sales weakness?
Right. It's a straightforward question, of course, we always question. There are always things we could have done better, of course. If you look at the performance in some markets where we had better weather, so to speak, like in Northern Europe, Scandinavia, we've had very strong sales. Sweden was up 7%, for example. We saw in May, when there was very nice weather here, we had close to 20% like-to-like in some of the markets, very strong. We couldn't have done that with a weak collection. Again, of course, there are things in the collection we always could have done better. We could have more of certain products, less of others. The general conditions and weather, et cetera, has been very negative, that's for sure as well.
Thank you. A quick second one, if I may. You've helpfully provided some sales indication for COS, and it's obviously proving very successful. Can you remind us what you've said in the past about margins for the COS format? I think from memory, you talked about achieving sort of H&M brand-type margins. Is that correct?
Correct.
Perfect. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Richard Chamberlain from RBC. Please ask your question.
Thanks. Morning, gents. Just a question on the June sales, please, so far. I just wondered if that was broadly in line with your expectations, given the tough comparable effect from last year.
Yes, it was.
It was broadly in line with our own expectations. As you said, we are meeting +14% from last year in local currencies, and I think the year before that, it was +13%. We are meeting strong grounds.
Also July last year was strong, August was weak. From August, hopefully we will see improvements going forward.
That makes sense. Okay, thanks. Just on June, to follow up, was there any sort of material calendar impact for the first three weeks of June? Obviously not from the days, but from the timing of holidays, Corpus Christi and so on?
Yeah
Even the spillover from Memorial. Yeah, I just wondered if there was there a material positive impact?
No, there wasn't. As you say, it's 21 days, there is no calendar impact on a certain day. You're right, there is a Corpus Christi, which we thought was going to be very negative in May and positive in June, this year proved that not to have a very material effect. The answer is no material effect.
Okay. Likewise for the full month, it will probably be either nothing.
Correct
Very small positive. Okay. Yeah.
Correct.
Yeah, got it. Okay, thanks.
Your next question comes from the line of Rebecca McClellan from Santander. Please ask your question.
Yeah. Hi, good afternoon, Nils and Jyrki. Just a couple of questions. Firstly, what's the level of like-for-like or local currency sales growth is the business budgeting for more generally, I don't know, going into autumn/winter 2016?
Could you say again, please? I didn't catch that.
What level of like-for-like or local currency sales growth is the business budgeting for? Is it sort of like small, low single digit like-for-like positive?
No, we don't quantify the exact. Of course, we always strive to grow the like-for-like, absolutely. Going forward, as I said, we are up against very strong June and July.
August is weaker, of course. We have a positive like-for-like in our plan, absolutely.
Right. Then just another couple of small ones. I'm assuming it's too far forward to be thinking about the dividend. Has any sort of shifting CapEx got related to sort of what could be expected at the year end? Just because the dividend obviously is quite a significant total number, and net cash has been under a bit of pressure.
The change in capital status has nothing to do with that. It's just like Jyrki said, the initial guidance was in the beginning of the year, it's always difficult to give an exact number because it's a moving target, we still haven't had it negotiated, a lot of the stores. Now we have much more visibility regarding the CapEx. That's the reason why we have lowered it. Regarding the dividend, it's far too early, it's of course a question for the board. We have had no indications for any adjustments on the dividend. That's the only thing I can tell you.
Finally, just in the first quarter results update, I think it was, you talked about a neutral to slightly positive effect or impact on purchasing cost, now we're just talking about neutral. Is that just simply semantics, I'm assuming nothing's really shifted in that?
Because the currencies, the FX has moved slightly, it's not just the dollar/euro, there's also other currencies, of course, which go the other direction.
Just a slight change.
Yes.
Okay.
As we said, it was a prevailing FX, right?
Yeah. All right. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Anne Critchlow from SG. Please.
Hello. Thank you.
Hello.
My question is about the incremental investments. What's your thinking on these from 2017 onwards in terms of, do previous investments drop out or do we have some incremental investment, maybe not as much as before? In vague terms, how are you thinking about it, please?
To start with this year, we've said we guided for around SEK 600 incremental. These are the long-term investments that we take directly on the profit and loss. So far this year, we're up around SEK 200 million.
The forecast is more pointing up to maybe SEK 500 million on a yearly basis.
And, uh-
For this year.
Yeah. Regarding next year, it's far too early to say at this moment.
Okay, thank you. Then same question for CapEx, really. Thinking about next year onwards, we've seen a lot of increase in CapEx over the last few years. Do you think that sort of rate of increasing continues, or do you think it will ease off and be a lower rate of increase?
When it comes to CapEx connected to our expansion, for instance, we are planning still to increase 10%-15% of source each year. The CapEx will probably be higher than in 2016, but exactly what levels we are talking about. Coming back to the long-term investments, we have had high levels during the past three, four years, and we are on a high level. In the future, we see that it will be a more balanced view between the top-line performance that we are planning and also the investment levels that we are planning. In the future, we can already now start to see that it will be much more balanced.
Okay, great. Thank you. Just one final question, please. Looking at COS and & Other Stories, if you strip out space expansion, how does the underlying growth compare in those formats compared to the core H&M concept?
The growth for both COS and Stories is very strong. In this quarter, they have done very strong growth, both in terms of total sales development, but also in like-for-like, very strong. To comment on Other Stories, as we've said many times, we're very happy with COS and the momentum, and we stated that next year, the turnover will be around SEK 10 billion. It's interesting that Other Stories has actually started even better than COS did at the same time.
Yeah, thanks. Just one quick follow-up on that. Do you think that COS and & Other Stories are attracting a stronger part of the market, or do you think there's just a difference in, are you doing a good job on COS and & Other Stories and maybe have made more mistakes on H&M?
It's a hard question, but how can I say? We're very, very happy with COS and the Stories, of course. Of course, actually you're right, they are targeting a slightly different customer target group. Perhaps that's one of the reasons, but I don't know. I guess there are many reasons behind the success.
Okay, thanks a lot.
Your next question comes from the line of Adam Cochrane from UBS. Please ask your question.
Hi, good afternoon.
Afternoon.
When we look at the overall picture, you're cutting your CapEx guidance, you're cutting the long-term investments. Are we coming to the end of the heavy investment period that we've seen over the last couple of years for H&M?
Coming to end, I think that's a question of definition, to be honest. As I just previously said, you are right. We have had high increases in the investment levels, the past three-four years. We can clearly see now that we are getting a more balance between the top-line performance that we are planning and also the investment levels. In that sense, it will level out and be more balanced in the future.
Also that many of these investments now start to pay off, so to speak, with the expansion of online. Now we've done a lot of investments, now we can capitalize on that, et cetera. It's not as intensive when it comes to investments as initially, and it's more in the rollout phase now.
Secondly, when you think about the actions that you're taking to improve the sales performance in the second half and into next year, in Q2, you've clearly been quite aggressive on the same store cost base. What sort of actions have you taken in the cost base? Does this have to reverse out if you were to see some of your positive sales momentum improving into the second half? I suppose, is it a temporary cost saving or more of a permanent reduction, please?
There are, of course, a lot of actions we are taking in our store operations every week and every month. Of course, when we have a sales performance below our plans, of course, we try to adjust the hours in the stores, the staffing in the stores as quickly as possible. In some countries, it's more flexible than in others. That's for one. Then we are looking into different, we can negotiate different shop costs, cleaning, electricity, et cetera. It's a broad things of actions that we are looking into. Some of them, of course, we will keep with us, and of course, the staffing, if the turnover picks up, of course, we will adjust the staffing hours as well.
Okay, final one. When you have been launching the new website concept into some of the older online markets, are you still seeing the same pickup that you said that you saw in the U.K. when you sort of rolled it out?
It's still only the U.K. that we've made this transition, so we still have the other old markets, so to speak, in front of us.
Okay. You haven't done any more in the last three months?
No.
Okay. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Christodoulos Chaviaras from Barclays. Please ask your question.
That's probably me. I guess, hi, Nils. Hi, Jyrki. One question, actually, because most of mine have been answered. If I can come back to that CapEx guidance that you've given, just to add a little bit of color. You've said that you had more clarity during the year, and you now guide towards SEK 1 billion, but that's kind of a 10% almost in the CapEx, which is a substantial number. I wonder whether this is better negotiations that you had, or is it the realization that sales haven't come up, they haven't come as you were expecting them, you had to reduce the investments? Is it a proactive or a reactive decision? I'm trying to think.
The guidance is still that we'll open up 425 stores net during the year. It's more about that it's really a guidance at the beginning of a year. It's a moving target. It's that we can negotiate better. It can be the store mix. If we don't succeed in the negotiations, for instance, for a flagship store, then of course, that will be quite substantial investment falling off, et cetera. It's also connected to the mix of stores. It has nothing to do with that we are not performing on top line on these new stores. They are very profitable.
That's helpful. A follow-up on that one. I'll end with this. Is it fair then to say that all the projects that you wanted to do up until now into the rest of 2016 are done and you managed to achieve, let's say, a cheaper price on that? Or is there a timing issue here where some of these projects that you were planning to do actually will come in FY 2017, hence the reduction in your initial guidance as you were progressing into these first six months? Maybe it's just a transfer of that CapEx into FY 2017.
No, it's not that we are moving projects. As I said, we are still planning 425. The guidance when it comes to number of net stores is the same as in the beginning of the year. It's more that we are negotiating, and it's a moving target. We don't know for sure. There were some projects probably that we wanted to do that we didn't find a solution to get an agreement, and then it's popping up even better cases than we were aware of in the beginning of the year. We back off from one of those that we already thought to do, instead favoring an even better business case. It's really a moving target. The expansion teams in the countries are working with it every week, and it changes all the time. That's the main reason.
Okay, thank you very much for that.
Welcome.
Your next question comes from the line of Simon Irwin from Credit Suisse. Please ask your question.
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
Good afternoon.
I have a couple of questions. I'll do them one at a time. Just going back to the online platform, can you explain the business case for using the different platforms where? In particular, I don't really understand the logic of opening for online in certain very small markets, while your core markets, such as the U.S. and particularly continental Europe, are still working on an older platform which clearly isn't as strong as the capabilities you've got elsewhere. Is this because when you launch, there will be better capabilities in these markets, or is it simply you just don't have the internal capacity to move that fast?
It's a combination of various things. Of course, in the best of worlds, of course, we would like to transform every country to the new platform. We try to do many things at the same time. We try to expand as fast as possible with quality, and at the same time develop the customer offering and the integration between the channels and lots of features like Jyrki mentioned, Click and Collect and return in store, et cetera. It's not that the old platform is bad or anything. I mean, we've developed that for many years, and you can do a lot of different services in a very good way on the old platform. It's like, I think I explained to some of you guys before, if you take the Volvo V70, it's been in operation for 20 years. Now they've stopped the production.
I guess the last cars they built were the best ones because they fine-tuned it. Still, they stop it, and they introduce a new Volvo V90, which probably the first ones will be not as good as the old V70, but still, it's a new platform which will take them to the next generation, so to speak. The same thing here. There are things with the new platform that are not as good as the old yet, but they will be developed over time. We are running now two parallel systems, and of course, that's not optimal. To make a transition on an existing market is very complex, and it's a lot of people involved and customers, et cetera. You have to be very careful when you do that kind of transition.
Of course, it's in our own interest to do the transition as quickly as possible, but also as good as possible.
For sure, coming back to your question, of course, we are looking to each. We have different scenarios. Expanding with new markets with a new platform, transition in existing markets from the old platform. Of course, we are looking into the different business cases, and it's not only to switch the platform, it can be connected to should we open up the neighboring country as well from the same logistical side. It's really a big scheme that we are looking into and try to make what's best for our business, both in the short term but also in the long run. We are looking very thoroughly and scrutinizing the business cases. More and more countries will be in the transition projects to come.
Sure. The new platform you talk about isn't really very new, is it? Because you first introduced that just after the U.S. launch, so it's
Yes
what, three years old now. I'm wondering what additional capabilities you're expecting to bolt onto that before you roll it out into your main markets. Because there can't be a business case for saying it's more important to do Cyprus than Germany.
Of course, if you just compare transition Germany to expand in Cyprus, then I can agree that it's a clear business case. As I mentioned, there are many other things that we also have to take care of when we are transitioning. Germany, one of our biggest markets when it comes to stores and online, then it's of course connected to logistical side, how should we act there with the WMS systems, et cetera, and where should we have the location for the distribution centers, et cetera. It's not just switching onto a new platform. Of course, we have a lot of releases when it comes to the new platform. It's getting on capabilities, for instance, checking out, how to check out from the store, payment methods, et cetera.
Of course, the countries that will get the transition next year or 2018, they will have more capabilities than the existing new platform.
Okay. Just a final technical question on your incremental investment, which you're now saying will be SEK 500 this year versus SEK 600. Is that still broadly split 50/50 between OpEx and gross margin?
Yes, it is.
Okay. It will presumably be slightly more heavily biased to the second half of the year, will it?
Yeah, if we aim for 500, yes.
Right. Okay, that's very clear. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Welcome. Thank you.
Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the hash key. Your next question comes from the line of Andrea Felsted from Bloomberg. Please ask your question.
Hello. There's been a lot of chat about the clothing market just really slowing and there being this sort of apparel Armageddon on both sides of the Atlantic. Where do you see the clothing market at the moment, please?
It's very difficult to say in a simple way. We confirm that it has been very challenging in many markets. Exactly what it is, if it's macro, it's weather, if it's customer sentiment or e-commerce, it's very hard to say. Sorry. We focus on what we can influence, and there are-
Yeah
certainly things that we can do.
Do you think there's evidence that women are buying fewer clothes? That's what Marks & Spencer said. They thought women were just buying less clothes. Have you seen any evidence of that?
No, not really. I think there's still a big need for many people across the globe to buy fashion, and that's what we aim to provide them with, the fashionable clothes, high quality in a sustainable way. There's a big demand for that, no doubt about it. What else? Can we add anything to that? No. It's very difficult. Sorry.
Okay. Thank you.
Any more questions? Hello?
Are there any more questions? We are talking to the operator, because we don't hear anything.
Hello. Apologies. Technical problems. Yeah, you have a few questions. The next one is from the line of Benjamin Jagrom. Please go ahead.
Okay.
Hi there.
Hi.
I was just looking at your emerging market figures. Talk to me a bit more about your plans for expansion in some of your key emerging markets and how you see yourself in the future, sort of balancing the mix between stabilization growth in the Nordics and developed markets and expanding in Latin American nations.
Well, first of all, I think we look at each market per se, so to speak, market by market, and they're all different. I think it's too simplified to just talk about emerging markets, but we see a great potential in many markets. We're still very small and very new in many markets across the globe, and still, we see a great potential in adding new markets. For next year, we plan four to five new markets where Colombia has been announced today. This year, of course, there's three new markets where Puerto Rico is open already, and we will open New Zealand and Cyprus during the fall. We grow in every market, actually, even in the older markets like Sweden and Scandinavia, even though, of course, not with the same pace as in the new markets.
Great. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Cédric Rossi from Raymond James. Please ask your question.
Yes, gentlemen, my questions have been answered. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Wilmot from The Wall Street Journal. Please ask your question.
Hi there. Yes, I just wanted to ask, what would be the trigger for you reducing your space expansion target from the current range of 10%-15% to anything lower?
Right.
Do you have any kind of specific strategy which would sort of catalyze any change in that?
Yeah, it's very simple because the target is to grow 10%-15% new stores per annum with continued high profitability. Of course, if we can't grow with the same quality or profitability, we'll slow down. It's very simple.
You have a kind of return on investment target, as long as the store openings meet those thresholds, you would continue to do them?
Yeah, that's one way of putting it, we see that we can grow with the space for many years.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Asad Malik from Citigroup. Please ask your question.
Morning, Nils. It was just a quick one from me, following on the comments you're making around China. Just looking at the kind of store closures in the half, it looks like they're about 31. I think last year you closed about 59. I was just wondering, should we expect a higher rate of store closures going forward? i.e., what's the gross opening number from where you get that for 425 net? Just following on from that, whether going forward, we will start to see a little bit more churn in the estate coming through in China.
Okay. It's very simple because we always look at each store performance, and that's one of the reasons why we lease the stores, because a couple of years further down the road, it could be another location which is stronger or something. We might find another contract which is better. It's mostly about relocations, and we sign better contracts. You shouldn't be worried if you see closures. It's a very natural part of the business. This is an ongoing process, of course, the more stores we have, the greater the number will be. That's the simple answer on that question. What was the second question? Say again, please.
I was just wondering if it was actually on whether.
China
would start to see China churn. Yeah.
Yeah, I expect that as now China is becoming. We have a big store park in China, and it's growing further. Of course, some of the stores will most likely be closed and relocated just as we do for the group.
Just-
Just, I wanted to clarify what Jyrki said before, that the leases we do are very, very good, and not just in terms of the lease, the rent, but also the flexibility and the terms, in general.
Okay. Can you give a number on how many stores you expect to close this year?
It's not official, but you're right. I mean, the 425 is a net number. Let's say if we continue with the same pace of closures or relocations as last year, we're talking about close to 500 stores gross.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
Which is important to keep in mind when you look at CapEx, et cetera. It's not the 425. It's actually close to 500 stores we need to invest.
That's great. Thank you very much.
Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of James Skinner from TheStreet. Please ask your question.
Hi there, Nils.
Hi.
Hi there, Nils. Most of what I wanted to ask has already been covered, I have a couple of questions. I was just wondering if you can give any more or any color at all on like for likes. You said at some point that like for likes had been particularly strong in some markets. I think you cited 20% gross. I am just wondering if you can say which markets those would be, and perhaps which ones give any indication of where this particularly strong growth is coming from, and perhaps those areas where growth is lacking.
Yeah. Very simple. I mentioned we were talking about the collections, I was referring to May, when we got some very nice weather.
Yeah
In especially the Nordics, some markets there did very strong performance. That is all.
Okay. The other question I have is that you guys say that new store sales are profitable and that the online business is ticking along okay, but the gross margin still seems to have come down somewhat. Given the pressures on margins and the bottom line as well, at what point does the company begin to rethink its pricing strategy in the core H&M brand? At what point would you again, perhaps consider a rethink of the store expansion strategy?
When it comes to pricing, we always aim for having the best customer offering in each market, its price, its quality, sustainability, et cetera. We are always monitoring what is happening on different markets when it comes to pricing. We are doing our own price analysis, looking at-
Yeah
competitors, what is happening. Of course we are adjusting prices every season, both down and up. We are following what is happening and maybe it is easy on paper just to get a good and a high bought-in gross margin.
Okay.
The reality can be something else.
Yeah
stick to our business idea and really start from our customer offering.
Okay.
The second question was?
It was just an add-on to the previous question. Again, given the margin and the bottom line issues, is there any particular, do you have, I think this was partly covered before, but do you have a particular point in mind where you might begin to reconsider the pace of geographic expansion, the pace of store expansion?
Yes, we touched upon that before. We said that, of course, the growth target is always to grow with continued high profitability and with quality. Of course, if we can't achieve that, we won't grow as fast.
Yeah.
We see potential to grow with this pace for many years from now.
Okay. Just one final question. The clothing market in general, particularly the mid-market, so call it the mid-tier of the pricing strategy, pricing spectrum, as it were. Thinking of that and competition, are you able to say what your expectations are for pricing in the middle tier, as it were, going forward over the next, say, 12 months or so?
No, that's nothing we guide for. No, we expect it to be very competitive going forward as well.
Okay. Fantastic. Well, that's it for me. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
There seems to be no further questions. Please continue.
Thank you all very much for participating in this conference call. Looking forward to speak to some of you again in connection to the nine-month earnings call in September. Bye-bye.
Thank you so much.
Yeah. Have a good midsummer. Hope Sweden wins tonight.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.