H&M plans record openings as sales flag Hennes & Mauritz is planning to open a record number of stores this year as the Swedish purveyor of cheap chic boosts its investments despite disappointing sales and profits. H&M expects to open 325 shops this year compared with 304 in 2012, ahead of its initial target of 275. It is planning to open its first stores in Chile, Estonia, Lithuania and Indonesia, while it is also launching a new brand, called & Other Stories, in the spring in some of the most high-profile retail sites in London, Paris and other European cities. But high expansion costs also meant that H&M posted the latest in a series of earnings slightly behind analysts" expectations. The company also warned that sales in January would only rise modestly, again below forecasts, due to very cold weather in many European countries in the second half of the month affecting growth. H&M has suffered in recent years from comparisons with Spain's Inditex, the owner of the Zara brand that is the world's biggest fashion retailer by sales. The Swedish group has struggled to maintain the sales growth in its existing stores while it has suffered repeated delays in starting its online offering in the US, an increasingly important sales channel for fashion retailers. "H&M continues to stand strong in a challenging clothing market which in many countries has been even more challenging in 2012 compared with 2011," said Karl-Johan Persson, chief executive. The company said total sales in January were likely to be about 5 per cent higher than a year earlier, with analysts suggesting that meant sales had shrunk in its existing stores. Pre-tax profits in the fourth quarter - which runs from September to November for H&M - were SKr6.6bn ($1bn), lower than the forecast of unchanged earnings. Big investments in online sales and IT as well as the strong Swedish krona weighed on results. Shares in H&M fell 2.6 per cent to SKr228.8 in morning trading in Stockholm.