Claire Wilson
INDITEX profits slowed in the nine months to October as it pursued a global expansion.
The textile giant which owns Zara, said net profit edged up 1% from the figure for the same period a year earlier to €1.67 billion, a far cry from the 27percent leap in profits it reported a year ago.
Sales rose by 5% to €11.93 billion in the same period; a year ago they had shot up by 17 percent.
“The results for the interim nine months 2013 show that Inditex continues its global, multiconcept, multi-channel growth,” said a statement by the group, which has grown from humble beginnings in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia to reign over 6,249 stores in 86 countries.
Inditex said it now employs 124,880 people in a fashion empire that includes the brands of Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Zara.
Inditex said expansion plans for its 2013 business year, which ends January 31, were “on track”. The group plans to open about 500 large stores, enlarge 100 global flagship stores and introduce a new image to key stores around the world.
The group said it now had 4,545 stores in Europe, 536 in the Americas and 1,168 in Asia and the rest of the world. Inditex said it had rolled out online sales in Russia and now planned to launch e-commerce operations in South Korea and Mexico next year.
