HIGH street fashion giant H&M has said it is braced for further sales falls across its stores in 2018, but hopes an online push and investment in new brands will deliver a "somewhat better result" than last year.

In a move to reassure worried investors, H&M, which has a store inside Bolton's Market Place shopping centre, said it expects a 25pc surge in sales online and from its new brands such as COS and H&M Home this year, while it expects stores to return to like-for-like sales growth from 2019 onwards.

The group said it is hoping for higher earnings this year and "good increases in profit" from 2019 onwards as it overhauls the business.

The comments came ahead of H&M's first capital markets day briefing for investors after it admitted last month it made "mistakes" and revealed fourth quarter profits slumped by more than a third.

H&M has seen its shares nearly halve in value over the past three years as it has struggled to keep up with the shift towards online shopping and increased competition.

It said late last month that store sales had been knocked hard by the switch online, leaving it with a lot of markdowns to shift unsold stock.

But in an effort to soothe investor concerns, it outlined its turnaround plans focused on boosting online sales and returning bricks and mortar stores to growth.

It said: "2018 is expected to remain challenging. H&M's sales in comparable stores are expected to remain negative with a gradual improvement during the year."

Earnings at the beginning of the year will be hit by hefty markdowns, but H&M said this will be offset by the expected boost from online business and new brands, with around another 4% added to group sales from new stores.

"Overall, it is assessed that there are good opportunities for a somewhat better result for the full year compared with the previous year," H&M added.