STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish budget fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (ST:HMb) said on Tuesday sales rose 4 percent in November in local currencies from a year earlier, lagging a mean forecast for a 9 percent rise in a Reuters poll of analysts.
The group said in a statement sales were negatively affected by unseasonably mild weather in North America and many of its large markets across Europe.
Net sales in September through November, H&M's fiscal fourth quarter, totalled 48.7 billion Swedish crowns (£3.8 billion), up from a year-ago 42.6 billion but below the mean forecast of 49.6 billion.
H&M is due to publish its full fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on Jan. 28.