H&M Sales Growth Slumps to Two-Year Low Amid Hot German Summer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Hennes & Mauritz AB, Europe's second-largest clothing retailer, reported its slowest monthly sales growth in more than two years as soaring August temperatures in countries such as Germany weighed on demand.

Revenue in August rose 1 percent expressed in local currencies, Stockholm-based H&M said in a statement Tuesday, the weakest performance since a 4 percent decline in March 2013. That missed the average analyst estimate for growth of 5.4 percent, according to an SME Direkt survey.

H&M blamed “unseasonably warm weather” in many of its large European markets for the slowdown. Temperatures in Germany, H&M’s biggest market, reached record levels in August.

H&M shares fell 0.7 percent to 314.4 kronor in early Stockholm trading.

Inditex SA, Europe’s biggest fashion retailer, reports first-half earnings Wednesday.

By: Paul Jarvis.