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STOCKHOLM — The chief executive of Hennes & Mauritz AB has stepped down as part of a complete board reshuffle that surprised markets Thursday.
Karl-Johan Persson had headed the company HM.B, +9.62% founded by his grandfather for just over 10 years but has stepped down from his role as CEO with immediate effect to take over as chairman, after his father Stefan said he would relinquish that role.
“It is my desire that there will be a change in the chairmanship at the coming AGM and that Karl-Johan will take over my role as chairman of the board,” outgoing chairman Stefan Persson said.
“It is a natural change, after 20 years as chairman…the timing is favorable for making this change now since we have gradually improved profits and have a strong position with many well-established brands, millions of customers world-wide and good financial strength.”
Helena Helmersson, who had been chief operating officer, has been appointed CEO and assumes the role today.
H&M has been busy shifting toward online sales and improved logistics, investing heavily in digitalization, logistics centers and logistics systems, tech infrastructure, advanced analytics and AI amid a rapidly changing retail landscape.
Helmersson started at H&M in 1997 and had recently been in charge of expansion, logistics, production, IT, advanced analytics and AI and insights and analytics.
In another move, Chief Financial Officer Jyrki Tervonen has been named chief executive of Ramsbury Invest–the Persson family’s private company that acts as the formal parent company of H&M–from July 1. Replacing him at H&M will be Adam Karlsson, currently head of controlling at the H&M brand.
H&M on Thursday posted a forecast-beating rise in fiscal fourth-quarter net profit as the company had higher full-price sales and lower costs for markdowns.
The Swedish fashion retailer posted a net profit of 4.21 billion Swedish kronor ($438 million) for the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with SEK3.54 billion a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a profit of SEK3.7 billion.
Sales rose to SEK61.69 billion from SEK56.41 billion, as previously announced, while net sales in December and January are estimated to have increased by 5% on the year in local currencies.
The company maintained its dividend at SEK9.75.
