Swedish high street success chain Hennes & Mauritz announced sales of USD 3.5bn for the first half of 2003 ending May 31, up 9% on the year previous. H1 operating profit rose 27.5% to USD 521m. Turnover for the second quarter increased 7% to USD1.68bn on like for like sales, while operating profit leapt 20% on year to USD 320m. During this period, H&M broadened its European base in Poland, the Czech Republic and Portugal.

H&M currently offers private label beauty products in select stores in addition to some mass brands. "Beauty is a small percentage of our turnover, but is important as is it very much linked to fashion," H&M investor relations manager Carl-Henric Enhörning tells Cosmeticnews.com. "In the future, we plan to have it in all of our stores."

H&M plans to open a further 60 stores by the year's end, mainly in the UK, Germany, the US, and Spain, the company said in a statement. In H1 2003, the company closed four stores, but opened 11 in the US and 42 in Europe, bringing its worldwide total to 893.