As Coronavirus has devastated H&M’s business since the middle of March, the brand expects its second quarter to be loss-making as sales will be significantly lower and it will also have to offer a lot of discounts to shift stock from earlier in the season. Around 80 per cent of the brand’s stores have been closed since that time, although from the end of April, it has gradually started reopening them in a number of markets where local restrictions and social distancing rules allow.

The group’s sales between March 1 and May 6 have fallen by 57 per cent year-on-year in local currencies. Its online sales, which continue in 46 of its 51 e-tail markets, have increased by 32 per cent in the same period.

H&M endured the biggest fall in sales in Italy with an 80 per cent drop, followed by Spain on 76 per cent, France and the US on 71 per cent each and the UK on 60 per cent. Its sales in Poland have fallen by 59 per cent, Japan 58 per cent, Denmark 51 per cent, Finland 49 per cent, Russia 47 per cent, Germany 46 per cent and Norway 36 per cent.