Fashion chain H&M said that profits rose by almost a quarter in the sales period ending August 31st.

In the third quarter of the firm’s financial year, H&M saw group sales rise 12%, with a strong performance in its Asian markets contributing to the good results.

Comments by CEO Karl-Johan Persson: "The third quarter has been very good as regards both sales and profits. Profits after financial items increased by nearly SEK 1 billion. Our well received summer collections have resulted in strong sales development in the quarter, particularly in Asia but also in a number of European markets. We have also seen the very successful launch of our online store in the US in August and can see that our offering stands up well in the world's largest online market.

“Our expansion is strong. It is not long since we opened our 2,000th store in 2010 and this September - only three years later - we opened our store number 3,000 in Chengdu, one of China's major cities. China is the country where our expansion is strongest, but we are also expanding in other exciting regions. We have opened 215 new stores so far this year and have had successful openings in four new H&M countries: Chile, Lithuania, Serbia and Estonia. In October this year we will open in another country in Southeast Asia - in Indonesia via franchise - and in the first half of 2014 we will open our first store in Melbourne, Australia. In 2015 we plan to open in South Africa.

“We are also continuing to work on our other brands as well as on our global roll-out of online shopping with the aim of launching our online store in more markets during 2014. Expansion continues for our other brands, especially COS and & Other Stories, which continue to do well and will expand even more rapidly next year."