Zara owner Inditex’s profit jumps in Marta Ortega’s first year in charge
ZARA owner Inditex on Wednesday (Mar 15) posted a 27 per cent increase in net profits in 2022 as sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the first full year since Marta Ortega, daughter of founder Amancio Ortega, took over as company chair.
In-store and online sales for the world’s biggest fashion retailer reached 32.6 billion euros (S$47 billion), 18 per cent more than the 27.71 billion euros posted the year earlier and 15 per cent higher than in 2019, before the pandemic hit.
The Spanish group, whose brands also include Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear, said sales continued to rise during the first weeks of its fiscal year that started on Feb 1.
Between Feb 1 and Mar 13, Inditex said its sales jumped by 13.5 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
The 2022 revenues were in line with analysts’ expectations as the company benefited from shoppers’ appetite for fashion as Covid-19 lockdowns ended.
Demand for Zara’s clothes continued even after a price rise of 5 per cent or more early last year to mitigate inflation, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank, UBS and Royal Bank of Canada.
The results may also lessen investor doubts about Marta Ortega succeeding the veteran Pablo Isla as non-executive chair in April, in a generational handover that began a decade ago when her father retired.
Excluding the Russian operation, where its stores have been closed since the Ukraine conflict started just over a year ago, sales in the Feb 1 to Mar 13 period increased in constant currency by 17.5 per cent.
Also on Wednesday, rival H&M reported a 12 per cent increase in net sales for its December-February period. REUTERS
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