MADRID: Fashion giant Zara’s owner Inditex reported a quarterly profit on Wednesday that jumped 80% on the back of soaring sales as consumers stuck at home during the pandemic look to replenish their wardrobes.
Net profit for the February-April quarter rose to 760 million euros ($812.06 million), in line with analysts’ expectations as the company surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
First-quarter sales rose 36% to 6.7 billion euros as the company managed to offset higher costs with price increases at the beginning of the year.
In the first quarter of 2019, before the pandemic struck, Inditex reported a profit of 734 million euros and sales of 5.93 billion euros.
The ongoing recovery in Britain, Europe and the United States helped Inditex make up for part of the lost revenue in Russia after the company closed its 502 shops there in March following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Excluding the 216 million euros, related to store closures in Russia that was booked in the reported quarter, Inditex posted a profit of 940 million euros.
Russia was Inditex’s second-largest market in terms of shops and accounted for 5% of its sales growth from Feb. 1 to March 13, according to the company.
Best known for the fast-to-market Zara brand, which accounts for 71% of the company’s sales, Inditex outperformed its main rival H & M as the Swedish clothing company posted net sales of $5.1 billion in the first three months of its fiscal year 2022.
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