Stockmann: Swedish clothing market grew by 4% in July

Source: Svensk Handel *Inderes’ estimate

Translation: Original comment published in Finnish on 8/14/2023 at 6:00 am EEST.

July figures for the Swedish clothing market were published last Friday. Comparison figures to 2019 levels are no longer published, but the comparison figure for July 2022 (vs. 2019) was 3%. Svensk Handel, which publishes the statistics, still considers the volume trend to be declining and thus weak, but the development was quite expected compared to our expectations. During January-June, the market grew by 2%.

Sweden accounts for more than half of Lindex’s sales

Sweden is Lindex's largest market and generates more than half of Lindex's sales. Our estimate for Lindex's Q3'23 revenue expects a 1% decline, still depressed by the much weaker SEK and NOK, which together account for around 70% of Lindex's sales. In our estimates, the negative impact of exchange rates is around 6% and therefore our growth expectation in local currencies is around 5%. Against this backdrop, July is relatively in line with our expectations. However, July is a traditional clearance sales month, so in addition to sales performance, what matters is how much revenue has been generated by discounts. The market developments in July do not give rise to any need to change our estimates.