New | H&M posts weakest monthly sales growth in more than two years

Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz reported on Monday its weakest monthly sales growth in more than two years, citing unseasonal warm weather in many of its large markets in Europe.

The world's second-biggest fashion retailer after Zara owner Inditex posted a 1 per cent rise in local currencies from a year earlier, falling short of the 6 per cent rise expected by analysts in a poll.

It was H&M's weakest reading since March 2013, when sales shrank 4 per cent.

H&M had recorded double-digit growth in the previous 10 months.

Industrywide clothing sales in Germany, H&M's single-biggest market, sank 16 per cent in August, according to Textilwirtschaft industry data.

Societe Generale analyst Anne Critchlow said the figure implied around an 8 per cent plunge in like-for-like sales.