From a conference room atop H&M¡¯s headquarters in the heart of Stockholm ¡ª with its brown-toned wood and clean lines giving the space a distinctly Scandinavian feel ¡ª Chief Executive Officer Daniel Erver speaks of reviving the one-time Swedish highflyer. What he¡¯s up against is a credibility problem.
Eight years ago, after a record quarterly sales drop, Hennes & Mauritz¡¯s then-CEO Karl-Johan Persson, a scion of its billionaire founding family, had gathered shareholders in the historic Stockholm concert hall Cirkus for its first ¡ª and only ¡ª capital markets day to reassure them that things would get better. They didn¡¯t. Just weeks after the event ¡ª where Persson had cut a dapper figure, tie-less, in a white shirt and an Arket suit ¡ª the company dumped more bad news: roughly $4 billion in unsold garments and a 62% drop in operating profit.
Now, Erver ¡ª?who took over in 2024 ¡ª?is seeking once again to convince investors that the group has turned a corner. Alongside an ambitious remake, Erver has sought to dig H&M out of one of the biggest inventory pileups in modern retail. While those efforts are bringing richer operating margins and profits, they have yet to lead to sustained sales growth, and Erver is asking for patience.
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