【英语中国】H&M：在华成本或增加 但无意离开中国

Hennes & Mauritz AB will be affected by any appreciation in China's currency but has no plans to move its manufacturing, the Swedish fashion retailer's chief executive said.

'Costs there will probably go up,' Karl-Johan Persson said in an interview Thursday. Analysts estimate that about a third of H&M's products are made in China, where the government recently signaled that the yuan's exchange rate will become more flexible. The move is seen as an effort to appease U.S. politicians, who have complained that the weak yuan unfairly boosts China's competitiveness.

'No one knows what is going to happen here,' Mr. Persson said, 'but bear in mind that this is just one of many factors affecting our costs. So we see no need to take action.'

The Stockholm-based company Thursday posted a 24% rise in net profit for its fiscal second quarter ended May 31 to 5.21 billion Swedish kronor ($670.4 million) from 4.19 billion kronor a year earlier. Revenue rose 1.9% to 27.03 billion kronor from 26.54 billion kronor. However, sales in stores that had been open for more than a year dropped 2%.

'There is some cannibalism,' Mr. Persson said, referring to the ferocious speed at which H&M has been opening stores in the past few years.

'I don't know exactly how large that effect is, but it is clear that our same-store sales numbers would have looked a lot better otherwise,' he added.

During the quarter, the world's No. 3 fashion chain by revenue, behind U.S.-based Gap Inc. and Spain's Inditex SA, opened 86 stores and closed 12. In the third and fourth quarters, H&M expects to open 180 stores, mostly in Germany, the U.S., U.K., France, China and Italy.

Mr. Persson, who is 35 years old and the grandson of H&M's founder and son of the majority owner, took over at the helm of the retailer a year ago. He said he was very pleased with sales in Asia and also singled out Russia, where H&M plans to open up a flagship store on St. Petersburg's Nevsky Prospect later this year.

Positive numbers from U.S. stores also keep coming in, albeit against weak year-earlier sales, he said.

In Europe, meanwhile, the picture is more patchy. 'Ireland and Greece still look bad,' said Mr. Persson, but he added that there were improvements in Italy and Portugal, two countries that have also be struggling with huge fiscal deficits.

'A lot of countries will have to tighten their budgets, and, of course, that will affect consumption,' Mr. Persson said.But despite overall consumption being lower than it was in 2007, H&M has managed to steadily increase its sales.

'People are shopping less but we sell more,' Mr. Persson said. 'That's a good combination.'

瑞典服装零售商Hennes & Mauritz AB公司首席执行长说，公司将受到人民币升值的影响，但没有转移生产基地的计划。

佩尔松(Karl-Johan Persson)周四接受访问时说，中国的运营成本可能会增加。分析师估计约三分之一的H&M产品在中国生产。中国政府近期表明人民币汇率将更加灵活。美国政客们一直报怨人民币的弱势不公平地提升了中国的竞争力，外界认为中国此举是为了使他们满意。

佩尔松说，没人知道这里将会发生什么事，但要记得这只是对我们的成本构成影响的诸多因素之一。因此我们认为不需要采取行动。

Bloomberg News周三在伦敦一家H&M店内，一名销售助理正在补充库存这家总部位于斯德哥尔摩的公司周四宣布，于5月31日结束的本财年第二季度中，其净利润增长24%，至52.1亿瑞典克朗（合6.704亿美元），而一年前仅为41.9亿瑞典克朗。收入增加1.9%，从265.4亿瑞典克朗增长到270.3亿瑞典克朗。然而，开业时间一年以上的店铺的销售额下跌2%。

佩尔松在提到过去几年H&M激进的开店速度时说，我们有些自相残杀。

他说，我不知道影响究竟有多大，但若非如此，显然我们单店销售额会好得多。

按收入计，H&M是世界第三大时装连锁公司，仅次于美国的Gap Inc.和西班牙的Inditex SA。本季度它新开了86家门店，关闭了12家。今年三、四季度，H&M预计新开店铺180家，主要位于德国、美国、英国、法国、中国和意大利。

佩尔松今年35岁，是H&M公司创始人的孙子，公司大股东的儿子，并于一年前开始掌管这家公司。他说对在亚洲的销售情况很满意，还特别提到了俄罗斯的业绩。H&M公司计划于今年晚些时候在圣彼得堡的涅瓦大街开设一家旗舰店。

他说，公司在美国的店铺也不断传来好消息，尽管去年基期的销售业绩不佳。

与此同时，欧洲的情况有好有坏。他说，爱尔兰和希腊的情况依然不好，但意大利和葡萄牙的情况有所改善。这两个国家也在与巨额财政赤字做抗争。

他说，许多国家将不得不收紧预算，这当然会对消费产生影响。但尽管整体消费水平比2007年低，但H&M的销售额一直成功地稳步增长。

佩尔松说，人们的购物量在减少，但我们的销售量在增加，这个组合不错。