H&M Group brands: H&M, COS, Arket, Weekday and & Other Stories, with store counts and Q3 2026 results

H&M Group's brands in its latest report are H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories, ARKET, H&M HOME and Sellpy. The group had 4,023 stores on August 31, 2026, down from 4,118 a year earlier, according to its nine-month report published on September 24. Two brands are adding stores, one has none left, and the flagship is shrinking.

The brands and their store counts

The report's store table, as of August 31, 2026, with a year earlier in brackets:

• H&M: 3,579 stores (3,680), in 82 store markets and 62 online markets
• COS: 257 (238), 50 store markets and 38 online
• ARKET: 59 (42), 23 store markets and 31 online
• & Other Stories: 65 (66), 24 store markets and 32 online
• Weekday: 44 (43), 14 store markets and 29 online
• H&M HOME: 19 concept stores (32), 11 store markets and 45 online
• Monki: 0 (17), online only in 29 markets
• Sellpy: no stores, online in 24 markets

H&M HOME is also available through shop-in-shops in 471 H&M stores, and COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories and ARKET offer global selling that reaches around 70 additional markets online. The report does not say what each brand earns, only how many stores and markets each has.

Who is growing

The report groups every brand except H&M as "portfolio brands". Their net sales rose 3% in local currencies in the third quarter, or 4% excluding Monki. For the nine months, portfolio brand sales fell 2% in local currencies and 6% in Swedish kronor, and were in line with last year excluding Monki. The Monki effect is a clean one: the group closed all Monki stores in 2025, which depresses comparisons.

The store table shows where the group is putting capital. COS added 5 stores in the quarter and 11 in nine months. ARKET added 4 and 6, and the report says ARKET will open its first store in Lithuania in the fourth quarter of 2026. H&M itself lost 20 stores in the quarter and 81 over nine months. In total the group opened 59 stores and closed 137 in the nine months, and plans about 90 openings and about 170 closures for the full year, with most openings in growth markets. H&M opened its first two stores in Paraguay in the quarter and will open in Argentina via franchise in 2027. A total of 247 stores are run by franchise partners.

The third quarter in numbers

Net sales for the quarter to August 31, 2026 were SEK 57,189 million against SEK 57,017 million, up 1% in local currencies, with about 2% fewer stores than a year earlier. Pulse 2.0 converts that to about $5.77 billion. Nine-month net sales were SEK 161,624 million, down from SEK 169,064 million, and flat in local currencies. Just over 30% of sales are online. September 2026 sales are expected to rise 1% in local currencies.

Gross margin was 54.0% against 52.9%, and operating profit rose to SEK 6,037 million from SEK 4,914 million, a 10.6% margin against 8.6%. The report is specific that about 1.6 percentage points of both came from one-time effects of tariffs and goods imports that had raised the cost of goods sold in previous quarters. Take that out and the quarter's margin is about 9.0% by our arithmetic (10.6 minus 1.6). The report's own operating margin for the rolling 12 months is also 9.0%, up from 7.2%. Our tariff explainer on what the US charges on apparel by country covers the trade side.

Where the sales are

By region, third quarter sales in local currencies rose 6% in the Nordics, 4% in Asia, Oceania and Africa, and 1% in each of Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and the Americas. Western Europe, the largest market at SEK 19,414 million for the quarter, fell 1%. The Americas were SEK 12,457 million. Store counts followed the same split: Asia, Oceania and Africa lost 54 stores in nine months, the most of any region, while Southern Europe added 3.

What the CEO says

Chief executive Daniel Ervér credits purchasing, cost control and more efficient operations for a more profitable business. In the report he adds that "Although sales developed in a positive direction during the quarter, we see further potential to increase sales going forward". That second clause is the honest one. Sales grew 1% in local currencies with fewer stores, which is a modest result.

The report also flags a pressure for the fourth quarter: the cost of markdowns as a share of sales is expected to increase somewhat, because the November campaign period leading up to Black Friday has become longer and more extensive. A company that leans on cost control for profit feels it when discounting widens.

How H&M fits the fast-fashion picture

Our explainer on what fast fashion is places H&M in the category by definition: frequent collections at low prices. The group's own brand mix tells a more layered story. COS, ARKET and & Other Stories sit above the H&M price point, and Sellpy is a second-hand marketplace. The store table shows capital moving to the first group while H&M's own store count falls.

Our take

H&M Group is a profit story, not yet a growth story. The brand list shows a business trimming its flagship and funding COS and ARKET, which is a sensible shift. But about 1.6 points of the margin was a one-off and sales rose 1%. We would watch the fourth quarter for markdowns and whether sales keep rising once the store cuts stop mattering.