Back To Work: H&M Will Bring Back 2,500 Corporate Workers As It Reopens Stores

Apparel and accessory retailer H&M (HM-B.ST) is reportedly set to bring back the 2,500 workers it furloughed from its Stockholm headquarters.

“As it currently stands, we will not seek to extend the furlough period for our staff at the headquarters in Sweden to the July-October period,” an H&M spokeswoman told Reuters.

H&M, which has begun to reopen some stores after temporarily closing them all amid the coronavirus pandemic, will allow its staff to return to work by July, the news outlet reported. H&M has about 5000 stores located around the globe and is the second-largest fashion retailer in the world.

The company said it has reopened select U.S. stores in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

H&M has seen its sales drop by 57% during the pandemic while online sales were up 32% from March to May, according to a company financial update. At the time, H&M warned that it will report its first quarterly loss in decades because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares of H&M stock were up 6.75% as of market close on Wednesday.