H&M is still not at the level it wants to be in China but things are going in the right direction after the retailer suffered a consumer boycott over its stance on alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.

“Overall, we see it’s going in the right direction even though we’re not at the level we want to be,” CEO Helena Helmersson said in an interview with Reuters.

“We do see that our focus on the customer offering and also making the customer experience really locally relevant is paying off.”

H&M no longer provides sales figures for specific countries, so tracking its performance in China is difficult. But its first-half performance in the Asia and Oceania region improved, with an operating profit margin of 1.8 per cent, compared to -0.8 per cent in the same period last year.

According to the company’s statement, H&M opened online in Vietnam in April and Arket was launched in Estonia in May. The group will launch Monki in Hong Kong later this year under a partnership with Zalora.

H&M Group has reported a 9 per cent increase in net sales for the first half year to US$10.43 billion year on year, with gross profit reaching $5.2 billion.

The company said it planned to open around 100 new stores and close about 200 stores this year.

• Reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm, Writing by Helen Reid in London; Editing by Mark Potter, of Reuters.