Swedish clothing retail giant Hennes and Mauritz (H&M), hit hard by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday reported better-than-expected third quarter results despite a halved net profit.

Net profit for the period June to August came in at 1.8 billion Swedish kronor (€172 million), compared to 3.9bn kronor (€371 million) for the same period a year earlier.

Revenue fell 18.7 per cent to 51 billion kronor (€4.9 million). Pre-tax profit came in at 2.4 billion kronor, an improvement over the 2.0 billion kronor reported in preliminary results published in mid-September.

Our recovery is going better than expected- H&M CEO Helena Helmersson

“Our recovery is going better than expected... With more full-price sales than expected and strict cost control, we returned to profit already in the third quarter,” Helena Helmersson, CEO of H&M, said in a statement.

However, the company added it was closing stores as COVID-19 was pushing more shoppers online. It is planning on shutting 350 out of its around 5,000 stores worldwide in 2021, while only opening 100 new ones.

"The rapid changes in customer behaviour have been accelerated by COVID-19. The H&M group is therefore now stepping up the pace of its transformation," the company said in its quarterly report.

Fashion retailers, especially fast-fashion brands like H&M, have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic. 

In mid-April, the Scandinavian company temporarily closed around 80 per cent of its stores worldwide. Currently, three per cent, or 166 shops, remain shut.

In its second quarter H&M posted a net loss of some five billion kronor, compared to a net profit of 4.6 billion a year earlier while revenue halved to 28.7 billion kronor.