Fashion retailer H&M's December-February sales up 12%

H&M, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, reported on Wednesday a 12% increase in December-February net sales while, measured in local currencies, sales were up 3%.

The Swedish group said in a statement net sales for the period, its fiscal first quarter, were up 12% from a year earlier to 54.9 billion crowns ($5.26 billion). Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast

an 11% rise in net sales to 54.4 billion crowns.