In mainland Europe, one of the world's leading fashion retailers saw its share price fall more than 13% after it warned bad weather would affect its sales.
H&M posted a 50% increase in operating profits to SKr7.1 billion ($672.5 million) from March to May. However, investors appeared to be more interested in what comes next for the Swedish retailer.
In June, sales are predicted to decrease by 6% year-on-year because of poor weather.
“The situation in the world around us remains uncertain and households continue to have high living costs," said newly appointed boss Daniel Erver.
He also noted that external factors such as rising material costs and fluctuating foreign currency rates are expected to negatively impact purchasing costs more than previously anticipated. “
This will have a more negative impact than we expected in the second half of the year,” Erver added.
H&M has been under pressure for over a decade, losing its position as the world's largest fashion retailer to Zara owner Inditex and facing competition from new low-cost retailers like Shein and Temu.
Despite these challenges, the company reported a rise in its gross margin to 56.3% in the second quarter from 52.7% in the same period last year, which Ervér described as “our best results for many years.”