HONG KONG, April 23 (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Esprit Holdings (0330.HK) said its total sales in the nine months ending in March eased 1.8 percent from the year-ago period, despite an improving global economy.

Esprit flagship in Hong Kong

Stipping out the foreign exchange impact of its local operations, revenues in the period fell 5.5 percent.

The company, which competes with Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (HMb.ST), U.S. group GAP (GPS.N) and Spain's Inditex (ITX.MC), reported turnover of HK$26.7 billion ($3.44 billion) from July to March, it said in a statement on Friday 23 April.

Sales in Europe, which accounted for about 84 percent of total turnover during the period, fell 6.6 percent in local currency terms but Asia Pacific sales were flat and North America and other regions were up 4 percent.

In February, Esprit, the world's No. 7 fashion retailer by market value, said its net profit in the six months ended December eased 5.2 percent to HK$2.7 billion on sales of HK$18.5 billion, down 3 percent from the previous year.

($1=HK$7.762)

(Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Ken Wills)