Inditex saw sales growth online and in stores in the first nine months of the year, while earnings increased on better efficiency and cost controls.
In a Nutshell: Inditex continues to roll out its global, fully integrated store and online platform. The company said global online sales launches are on track, with Inditex launching online sales for Zara in India in October.
Meanwhile, Inditex isn’t foregoing brick-and-mortar, opening stores in 52 markets in the first nine months of the year. At the end of October, Inditex operated 7,504 stores in 94 markets. The company said that as a barometer for the fourth quarter, store and online sales in local currencies grew 13 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 11.
Sales: Net sales for the nine months through October grew 10 percent to 17.96 billion euros ($21.13 billion), from 16.4 billion euros ($19.29 billion) in the year-ago period. The flagship Zara brand saw sales gains of 10 percent in the period.
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Earnings: Net income in the none months increased 6 percent 2.3 billion euros ($2.71 billion) from 2.2 billion euros ($2.59 billion) in the first nine months of 2016. Gross profit rose 9 percent to 10.3 billion euros ($12.12 billion) in the period from 9.49 billion euros ($11.16 billion) the previous year. Earnings before interest and taxes increased 6 percent 2.99 billion euros ($3.52 billion) from 2.82 billion euros ($3.32 billion) the prior year.
CEO’s Take: Pablo Isla, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Inditex performance in the period has been strong. Sales have increased 10 percent. We have achieved positive like-for-like sales growth in all geographical areas over the period. Our operations have also shown high efficiency and tight control.”
“Inditex’s online operations have seen very rapid growth in recent years. Our business model allows a swift expansion of our Store & Online platform globally. Zara has built an online presence across the whole of Europe, Asia and the Americas. We will continue to roll out online progressively in all the markets in which we are present with stores. We have recently completed the online launch of Zara in practically all Southeast Asia. In October we launched Zara online in India with a strong reception.”