June 2025 delivered pivotal updates across the field of women’s health, spanning clinical guidance, therapeutic innovation, policy statements, and new research insights.
From ACOG’s condemnation of violence against reproductive health providers to promising trial data on managing vasomotor symptoms and recurrent bacterial vaginosis, this month’s developments reflect both the clinical and societal forces shaping OB/GYN practice today. Additional highlights include updated AAP recommendations on adolescent contraceptive care and new findings linking ADHD to increased risk of premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
In this monthly roundup, Contemporary OB/GYN summarizes the most significant clinical findings, expert commentary, and policy developments from June 2025.
Click on each headline below for full coverage and analysis.
1. Elinzanetant found to reduce VMS from endocrine therapy for breast cancer
A phase 3 trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that elinzanetant significantly reduced moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms in women receiving endocrine therapy for hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. Among the 474 participants, those receiving elinzanetant reported up to 3.5 fewer daily hot flash episodes by week 4 compared to placebo. Improvements in sleep and menopausal quality of life were also greater in the elinzanetant group. These findings address a critical need, as vasomotor symptoms often undermine adherence to endocrine therapy, potentially affecting long-term cancer outcomes.
2. Secnidazole shows promise for recurrent BV treatment in new clinical trial
New data presented at the 2025 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting support the long-term use of secnidazole oral granules for recurrent bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition affecting nearly 1 in 3 reproductive-aged women in the U.S. In a small trial, once-weekly 2 g doses showed comparable or improved efficacy to CDC-recommended suppressive regimens. Lead investigator Chemen M. Neal, MD, emphasized the potential for simplified dosing to improve adherence and reduce recurrence. The findings also underscore the need for accurate diagnosis and sustained management of BV, which carries both physical and psychosocial burdens.
3. ACOG condemns violence against reproductive health care providers
In a joint statement, ACOG president Steven J. Fleischman, MD, and CEO Sandra E. Brooks, MD, condemned recent acts of violence targeting reproductive health care providers, including a bombing at a Minnesota fertility clinic and online harassment of clinicians. The statement, released following the 2025 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, underscored the escalating risks ob-gyns face for delivering comprehensive reproductive care. Citing long-standing patterns of ideologically motivated violence, ACOG called for strengthened protections under policies like the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and urged political leaders to oppose threats against providers.
4. AAP issues updated guidance on contraception for adolescents
The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidance on adolescent contraceptive care, urging pediatricians to provide developmentally appropriate, confidential counseling and access to the full spectrum of contraceptive methods. Published in the July 2025 issue of Pediatrics, the policy emphasizes equity, autonomy, and shared decision-making. The AAP highlights the need for proactive engagement given persistent gaps in contraceptive use among teens and calls for expanded access through telehealth and school-based care. Pediatricians are also encouraged to integrate contraception discussions with broader sexual health care, including STI screening and HPV vaccination.
5. ADHD linked to higher risk of premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Women with ADHD may face a significantly higher risk of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), according to new findings published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Using survey data from U.K. participants, researchers found PMDD symptoms were over three times more likely in women with ADHD, and risk was even higher when anxiety or depression was also present. PMDD was identified in 31.4% of those with ADHD versus 9.8% of those without. The study’s authors called for increased screening and a better understanding of how hormonal changes affect women with ADHD to address diagnostic disparities.
Sales in local currencies increased by 1 percent in the second quarter, with 4 percent fewer stores at the end of the quarter compared with the same point in time last year. Excluding these closures, sales increased by 3 percent. Converted into SEK, net sales amounted to SEK 56,714 m (59,605). Net sales in SEK were negatively affected by a currency translation effect of around 6 percentage points due to the strengthened Swedish krona.
Gross profit amounted to SEK 31,425 m (33,569), which corresponds to a gross margin of 55.4 percent (56.3). The gross margin was negatively affected mainly by external factors such as a more expensive US dollar and high freight costs, which increased the cost of purchasing for the second quarter, but also by the company’s investments in the customer offering. The external factors that had a negative impact on purchasing in the first half of the year are turning positive for the second half of the year.
Selling and administrative expenses amounted to SEK 25,489 m (26,446). In local currencies these expenses increased by 2 percent.
Operating profit amounted to SEK 5,914 m (7,098), corresponding to an operating margin of 10.4 percent (11.9). The decrease in operating profit was mainly attributable to the lower gross margin and negative currency translation effects.
The result after tax amounted to SEK 3,962 m (5,0641), corresponding to SEK 2.48 (3.151) per share.
Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 8,528 m (12,600). Cash and cash equivalents plus undrawn credit facilities were SEK 35,828 m (42,572).
The composition of the stock-in-trade is good. During the quarter the stock-in-trade developed in a positive direction with a significantly lower growth rate of 1 percent compared to the first quarter’s increase of 11 percent in local currencies. At the end of the second quarter the volume of goods was lower than at the same point in time last year. Higher purchasing costs explain the increase in stock-in-trade compared with the previous year.
First half-year (1 December 2024 – 31 May 2025)
In local currencies net sales increased by 1 percent in the first half of the year. Converted into SEK, the H&M group’s net sales amounted to SEK 112,047 m (113,274).
Gross profit amounted to SEK 58,594 m (61,224). This corresponds to a gross margin of 52.3 percent (54.0).
Selling and administrative expenses amounted to SEK 51,427 m (52,010). In local currencies these expenses increased by 1 percent compared with the previous year.
Operating profit amounted to SEK 7,117 m (9,175), corresponding to an operating margin of 6.4 percent (8.1). The decrease in operating profit was attributable in full to the lower gross margin, which was negatively affected by external factors such as a more expensive US dollar and higher freight costs, but also by markdowns and investments in the customer offering.
The result after tax amounted to SEK 4,541 m (6,2951), corresponding to SEK 2.85 (3.911) per share.
Cash flow from operating profit amounted to SEK 12,729 m (16,567).
The H&M group’s sales in the month of June 2025 are expected to increase by 3 percent in local currencies compared with the same month the previous year. The sales increase of 3 percent is impacted by a negative calendar effect of around one percentage point.
Environmental organisation Stand.earth rated the H&M group as the best company in the fashion industry for the group’s work to phase out fossil fuels. The H&M group gained the highest overall score among leading brands in the fashion industry for its climate efforts.
The annual general meeting on 7 May 2025 resolved to authorise the board to decide on buybacks of the company’s own class B shares in the period up to the 2026 annual general meeting for the purpose of adjusting the company’s capital structure and enabling purchases of shares for the company’s share-based incentive program. The board of directors has made the decision to buy back the company’s own class B shares to ensure the delivery of class B shares to the participants in the company’s long-term incentive program (LTIP). The cumulative number of shares that can be purchased is 1,100,000 shares, for a maximum cumulative amount of SEK 175 m.
H&M is opening its first stores and online in Brazil, a country with a population of more than 200 million, early in the second half of 2025.
“Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and brand, is again confirmed by the progress we see. The positive development in important areas such as online, H&M womenswear and H&M Move, as well as continued focus on good cost control, will contribute to a profitable sales development,” says Daniel Ervér, CEO.
1. See note 5.
Comments by Daniel Ervér, CEO
Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and brand, is again confirmed by the progress we see. The positive development in important areas such as online, H&M womens-wear and H&M Move, as well as continued focus on good cost control, will contribute to a profitable sales development.
Sales in local currencies increased by 1 percent in the second quarter, with 4 percent fewer stores at the end of the quarter compared with the same point in time the previous year. Excluding these closures, sales increased by 3 percent. Moreover, the quarter is to be seen in light of the fact that the second quarter of 2024 was a strong quarter with a sales increase of 3 percent.
The quarter’s result was negatively affected by higher purchasing prices as a result of a more expensive US dollar and higher freight costs, but also by the fact that we have continued to invest in the customer offering. Investments made to strengthen our customer offering and give customers even more value for money. The negative external factors that increased the costs of purchasing for the first half of the year are turning positive for the second half of the year.
Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and the H&M brand, is confirmed by the progress we see in key parts of the business. With the customer offering at the centre, we have further strengthened the organisation’s focus on product and customer experience. The improvements implemented in online, H&M womenswear and H&M Move, together with increased product availability and closer collaboration with our suppliers, have continued to bring positive results. Portfolio brands also grew in the quarter and COS has developed particularly well. Some measures have a faster impact than others, but the direction is clear and during the year we continue to implement improvements in other parts of the business.
Our upgraded digital store is now rolled out and the response from customers is positive. In our omni-model we continue to integrate our physical and digital sales channels that complement and strengthen each other. We also continue to expand in growth markets. We look forward to opening both online and physical stores in Brazil in the second half of the year, and taking H&M’s business concept – fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way – to a country that has a population of more than 200 million and a great interest in fashion.
The integration of sustainability into our daily operations continues to deliver results. The climate and environmental organisation Stand.earth ranks H&M as number one among 42 fashion companies in terms of reducing climate impact.
In uncertain times with cautious consumers we monitor macroeconomic and geopolitical developments closely and continuously adapt both the customer offering and the business to meet our customers’ needs in the best way. We continue to strengthen the product offering and the experience both online and in our stores. With a clear plan, a strong financial position, good cost control and committed employees, we see good opportunities for long-term, sustainable and profitable growth.
Communication in conjunction with the six-month report The six-month report, i.e., 1 December 2024 – 31 May 2025, will be published at 08:00 CEST on 26 June 2025, followed by a combined press and telephone conference at 09:00 CEST for the financial market and media, hosted by CEO Daniel Ervér, CFO Adam Karlsson and Head of IR Joseph Ahlberg. A presentation of the report followed by a Q & A session will be held in English.
Location: H&M’s head office in Stockholm, Mäster Samuelsgatan 49, 3rd floor, Ljusgården. The event will be broadcasted online and questions can also be asked by telephone. For log in details please register: https://app.webinar.net/vwELGVnGex6
To book interviews for media in conjunction with the full-year report on 26 June 2025, please contact: Anna Frosch Nordin, Head of Media Relations, telephone +46 73 432 93 14, anna.froschnordin@hm.com.
Please note that the combined press and telephone conference starts at 09:00 CEST. Also note that there will not be a separate telephone conference in the afternoon CEST.
Contact
Joseph Ahlberg, Head of IR
+46 73 465 93 92
Daniel Ervér, CEO
+46 8 796 55 00 (switchboard)
Adam Karlsson, CFO
+46 8 796 55 00 (switchboard)
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) SE-106 38 Stockholm Phone: +46 8 796 55 00, e-mail: info@hm.com Registered office: Stockholm, Reg. No. 556042-7220
For more information about the H&M group visit hmgroup.com.
Information in this interim report is that which H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) is required to disclose under the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. The information was submitted for publication by the abovementioned persons at 08:00 (CEST) on 26 June 2025. This interim report and other information about the H&M group are available at hmgroup.com.
H & M HENNES & MAURITZ AB (PUBL) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. H&M’s business idea is to offer fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way. The group’s brands are H&M (including H&M HOME, H&M Move and H&M Beauty), COS, Weekday (including Cheap Monday and Monki), & Other Stories, ARKET, Singular Society and Sellpy. The group also includes several ventures. For further information, visit hmgroup.com.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, back to basics for the 2025 season
At the start of the year, Davidovich Fokina found himself languishing down in 68th in the ATP rankings, a world away from his career-high rank of 21.
Among his radical changes were an overhaul of his backroom team. The Málaga man brought in David Sánchez, who he had been working with the previous year, and Félix Mantilla as his key coaches.
“There are many aspects, but I think the main one has been the life change that I made, the recruitment of the team that I really want,” Davidovich Fokina explains. “I left my former coach, moved to Monaco and said, ‘I have to start my whole team from scratch’.
“With my manager, Gianmarco [Amatiste], who is also my best friend, we started to make calls and build the team bit by bit. We have a very good team, we are now looking for another coach, a second coach, but for now we are all here.”
Hailing from the coastal town of Rincón de la Victoria, the world no. 27 is the second-highest ranked Spanish ATP player, behind five-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz.
“There are quite a few Spaniards who are playing quite well nowadays,” he explains, “we also have a very good team for the Davis Cup, so I think that more young players will emerge to make us even stronger in the future.”
Today, at our global Conversations conference in Miami, we’re introducing updates to help make WhatsApp the go-to place for doing business.
Streamlining Marketing Across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram
We’re streamlining how businesses can create and manage their marketing strategy across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram – all in Ads Manager. Now, businesses of all sizes can use the same creative, setup flows and budgets in one central place. Once onboarded, businesses can upload their subscriber list and either manually select marketing messages as an additional placement or use Advantage+, and our AI systems will then optimize budgets across placements to maximize performance. Once available, businesses interested in creating ads in Status will be able to do that from Ads Manager too.
Expanding AI Support
As businesses attract more customers, they need additional support responding to an influx of chats. This is where AI can help. We’re exploring a Business AI that can make personalized product recommendations and facilitate sales on any business’ website – and then follow up with customers to answer questions or provide updates right in a WhatsApp chat. And starting soon, we’ll expand Business AIs to more businesses in Mexico.
Adding Calling and Voice Options
There also might be times it’s helpful to provide additional support to customers beyond just a text. In the coming weeks, larger businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will be able to receive a call from a customer when they want to talk to someone live, or call a customer directly once they’ve asked to hear from you. And starting soon, we’ll also make it possible to send and receive voice messages for additional support, or make a video call which can be helpful for things like a telehealth appointment. Bringing calling and voice updates to the WhatsApp Business Platform will help people communicate in a way that works best for them and paves the way for AI-enabled voice support in the future. Businesses interested in getting started with calling on the WhatsApp Business Platform can work with one of our partners.
We look forward to hearing how these updates help businesses strengthen relationships with their customers and increase efficiency.
NEW YORK — Their reunion? It’s smooth like butter. The K-pop septet BTS will return in spring 2026 with a new album and world tour.
Members Jin, RM, V, Jimin, J-Hope, Jung Kook and Suga made the announcement Tuesday during a livestream on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by BTS management company Hybe. It was the first time all seven members have broadcast live together since September 2022.
“We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music,” the band said in a statement. “Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”
They also announced a world tour, their first in nearly four years. The news arrives a few weeks after BTS superstars RM, V, Jimin and Jung Kook were discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory service.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea. Six of the group’s seven members served in the army, while Suga, the last to return, fulfilled his duty as a social service agent, an alternative to military service.
Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.
South Korea’s law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t subject to such privileges. However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service after South Korea’s National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.
From underdog in 2024 to reigning champion in 2025, Barbora Krejčíková emerged to a warm applause on a boiling day at Wimbledon.
The Czech Olympic tennis champion was in for a tough opening round against rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala, but Krejčíková came through to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday, 1 July.
Krejčíková will meet Caroline Dolehide or Arantxa Rus in the second round of the Championships 2025.
WIMBLEDON — Given their form coming in, Barbora Krejcikova and Alexandra Eala couldn’t have been on more different trajectories.
Krejcikova, the defending Wimbledon champion and No. 17 seed, missed the first five months of 2025 with a back injury and had to withdraw from this week’s Eastbourne quarterfinals citing a thigh injury. She was a modest 3-4 in 2025 since returning from a debilitating back injury.
Eala, still a teenager, leaped into the public consciousness back in March by beating three former Grand Slam champions — Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek — in Miami. At the age of 20, last week she won six matches, including qualifying, to reach the final in Eastbourne before losing to Maya Joint — 12-10 in a third-set tiebreak.
But as Tuesday’s match progressed, muscle memory seemed to take over and Krejcikova regained her groove on the grass, defeating Eala 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
A clean backhand down the line to finish it left Krejcikova — fist aloft — roaring in triumph. She now has 14 match-wins at Wimbledon, more than any other Grand Slam.
Before the tournament began, Krejcikova was reunited with the Venus Rosewater Dish, the trophy she won here nearly a year ago. Now, it appears, she’ll have a chance to regain it.
At the outset, things didn’t look quite so rosy.
With Krejcikova serving at 2-3 in the first set, Eala broke through on the strength of a backhand winner. Playing only the second Grand Slam main draw of her young career, she made that stand up by taking better care of her serve and hitting fewer unforced errors than Krejcikova.
But the defending champion came screaming back, taking a 5-0 lead in the second set and eventually forcing a decider.
Down 1-0 and facing her second break point, Eala didn’t do enough with an approach shot and couldn’t handle the subsequent volley. In the final analysis, Krejcikova — an accomplished doubles player — was better at the net. She won eight of 13 points, while Eala was only 2-for-9.
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) — South Africa equalled its longest winning streak in men’s test cricket when it finished off Zimbabwe by 328 runs on Tuesday.
The ninth straight win for the world test champion tied the record of the 2002-03 Proteas.
Medium-pacer Corbin Bosch claimed a maiden five-for as Zimbabwe, set a target of 537, was bowled out for 208 in its second innings after lunch on day four.
Zimbabwe suffered its heaviest test defeat on runs.
Bosch struck on the day’s first ball, removing Nick Welch after he did the same with the last ball on Monday when opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano was caught at third slip.
Sean Williams prevented the hat trick, but Zimbabwe’s first-innings century-maker was among the five wickets to fall in the first hour.
Zimbabwe went from 32-1 overnight to 82-6, effectively the end of its unlikely chase.
The main resistance came from captain Craig Ervine with 49 and tailender Wellington Masakadza with 57, his maiden test half-century.
Bosch took 5-43 in his second test, and along with his unbeaten 100 in the first innings, became the first South African to do the hundred and five-for double in the same test since Jacques Kallis in 2002. He is only the fifth South African to achieve the feat.
South Africa, with only four of the 11 who won the World Test Championship at Lord’s last month, scored 418-9 declared and 369. Zimbabwe replied with 251 and 208.
The 19-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius was man of the match for his 153 on debut, and the other two debutants also starred; Dewald Brevis made 51 and took a wicket, and medium-pacer Codi Yusuf had figures of 3-42 and 3-22.
“I’ve had my eye on Lhuan-dre since the SA20, and he hasn’t looked back since in any format,”” Proteas stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj said. “He’s a mature young lad. To see how goes about his business in pressure situations was very heart-warming.
“And then there’s Dewald Brevis. Not many youngsters come into our system and express themselves the way he does. Bosch is new to the international scene, but he’s really fit in like a glove. To see him conquer both facets in this test match was really special.”
The teams stay at Queens Sports Club for the second and last test of the series starting on Sunday.
In 1920, a young Armenian painter named Vosdanig Manuk Adoian emigrated to the US, fleeing from the Armenian genocide. After four years living with relatives in Massachusetts, he moved to New York City and changed his name to Arshile Gorky in honour of the celebrated Russian poet Maxim Gorky.
A new publication titled Arshile Gorky: New York City, edited by Ben Eastham, examines Gorky’s artistic evolution against the backdrop of New York as a Modernist mecca, straddling Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. In the book, writers and art historians explore Gorky’s Manhattan years, including Adam Gopnik who, in the essay “Gorky Again”, reflects on the relationship of the artist’s paintings to time and place. Here, he turns our focus to an important double portrait and Gorky’s experienceas an Armenian immigrant to the US.
Extract from ‘Gorky Again’ in Arshile Gorky: New York City
What Arshile Gorky and the other great immigrant observers of America had in common is that each pursued a passion in the modern sense, making art against the grain of commerce, while each underwent a passion in the mythical Greek sense—had some moment of struggle or pain that resolved in art, and, often, in the closest thing artists get to immortality: a place in the collective memory. In the artist’s last interview [1948], he again describes himself as Russian, but also as an “early American”, who, according to his interviewer, “dislikes being called a foreigner and says he is more like one of the first settlers because he can appreciate the advantages of being in America to a far greater extent than those who were born here by ‘lucky accident’”.
With Gorky we sense a classic immigrant’s plight: a desire to restore and recuperate the recipes and precise tastes and qualities of a lost, more savoury and less homogenised past, while making it live within the scale and ambition of American reality. Scale alone becomes a vital form of assimilation: do it big and you do it American. To do “Poussin over entirely from nature” was Cézanne’s cry; to do the artisanal, puzzling, irregular Old-World particularism—a world wrought, as Gorky itemised, from the shape of apricots and baker’s bread—over in a landscape of grand generalisations and unlimited horizons, that was the dream that [Willem] de Kooning and Gorky shared.
And so, we keep coming back to Gorky’s prime, begetting picture, a masterpiece of the American immigrant experience, which is to say of the American experience: The Artist and His Mother (around 1926-36). Taken from a formal photograph, remade over more than a decade, [it is] the foundation of his art. We see boy and mother and know that she will die, unthinkably, of starvation in his arms, as part of the [Armenian] genocide, and never see her son again. The image sits so sharply within our consciousness, no matter how often we return to it, because it offers something not illustrative but iconic, part of now-vanishing stories of loss redeemed by possibility. From starvation and persecution and the wistful enforced formality of the Old World, comes, after a long voyage, energy and hope—and with the hope, a residual longing for the older world, and a need to picture all that happened between the departure and the painting. Gorky’s kind lives as a series of passionate pilgrimages made by improbable arrivals and painters who, however necessarily absurd in their effect at moments, struggled against unimaginable hardship to realise their images.
Gorky’s last written words before his painfully premeditated suicide [he took his own life in 1948]—“good-bye my ’loveds,” in one version—were a cry of the heart of a suffering man who loved his daughters, as well as a literary reference to a phrase [the Russian poet and playwright Alexander] Pushkin is reported to have written before he died following a duel. The curse of history and the hope of renewal, old and new drawn together in pain. All artists die in a duel, perhaps the duel of talent against the world. We honour them not by placing them back in history, but by reminding ourselves that what we call history is just what they did, which was everything they could.
• Arshile Gorky: New York City, Ben Eastham (editor) and various contributors incl. Adam Gopnik, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 244pp, £32 (pb)
