H&M to Grow Work Force

Stockholm, Sweden H&M said on Thursday that it plans to create between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs in 2009.

The company plans to open 225 new stores worldwide this year, most of them in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States.

The group said its year to November 2008 net profit rose 12.5% to $1.89 billion dollars, with sales up 13%. For the three months to November, net profit rose 9.4%.

The group said that while its growth had slowed in the third quarter, it managed to limit the effects of the crisis in the fourth quarter by lowering prices further.

In 2007-2008, H&M opened 214 new stores around the world, compared to 193 a year earlier. It closed 18, compared to 16 the previous year.