On January 30, 2020, H&M announced that Chairman Stefan Persson will not stand for reelection at the company’s annual general meeting on May 7, and that he wishes current CEO Karl-Johan Persson to succeed him. In turn, the board of directors decided that Helena Helmersson should succeed Karl-Johan Persson as CEO. Stefan Persson has been Chairman for 20 years. Helena Helmersson has been Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for expansion, logistics, production, IT, advanced analytics and AI and insights and analytics for just over a year. Helmersson joined H&M in 1997 as an economist in the company’s buying department and held various roles within buying and production, and later served as Sustainability Manager for five years, then as a production manager based in Hong Kong. Karl-Johan Persson has been CEO since 2009. He is a member of H&M’s founding Persson family, which remains the company’s largest shareholder. Under his leadership, H&M grew store numbers aggressively, began selling online in most of its markets and launched a number of additional banners. [caption id="attachment_103012" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Company reports[/caption]   However, revenue growth slowed thanks to a laggardly approach to omnichannel retailing and increased competition in sluggish apparel markets. In 2018, H&M outlined a strategy to turn around performance, with a focus on the following areas: 1. Create the Best Customer Offering

• Product assortment: Integrate the right blend of fashion, quality, price and sustainability in all brands.
• Physical stores: Continue to develop new concepts to improve the store experience and optimization of the store portfolio.
• Online stores: Make improvements such as faster and more flexible delivery and payment options.
• Continue to integrate physical and online stores to enhance the omnichannel experience for customers.

2. Fast, Efficient and Flexible Product Flow

• Make the supply chain faster, flexible and more efficient.
• Launch initiatives in advanced data analytics and AI.
• Invest in tech infrastructure.
• Continue to invest in tech infrastructure including robust scalable platforms that enable faster development of various customer apps and new technologies.

3. Adding Growth

• Expand digitally into new markets.
• Continue expansion of physical stores with a focus on key growth markets.
• Develop new concepts and business models.

4Q19 and FY19 Results On January 30, H&M reported fourth-quarter EBIT of SEK 5.38 billion, ahead of the consensus estimate of SEK 5.15 billion. Fourth-quarter net sales growth, which had already been reported, came in at 5% in local currencies. For the year ended November 2019, H&M reported its first rise in annual net profit since 2015, up 6.3% to SEK13.4 billion. Karl-Johan Persson said:

The H&M group’s transformation work continues to bear fruit. Increased full-price sales and decreased markdowns contributed to an improvement in profit for the full year and in the fourth quarter, when we achieved a 25 percent increase in operating profit while maintaining a high level of activity in our transformation work.