The opening of new stores helped Swedish-owned fashion giant H&M increase sales in its Irish unit to €6.82 million in the three months to November.

Europe's biggest fashion retailer said in new results this week that it made a net profit of SKr4.3 billion (€465 million) in the final quarter of its financial year. A net profit increase of 6 per cent from the same quarter in the previous year was below expectations of a 13 per cent rise.

H&M said its Irish sales in the nine months to November were €14.5 million, including value-added tax. The sales in the most recent quarter were up from €3.18 million in the period immediately before and up from €4.51 million in the three months after the opening of its first Irish store last March at Dundrum Town Centre in south Dublin.

H&M has opened stores in central Dublin and in the Liffey Valley Centre. It has another store in Limerick.