Sales and profits up at Zara parent Inditex

Inditex, the global fashion retail giant, has posted sales up 10% in the nine-month period to 31 October 2017 with EBIT up 6%.

During the period, the parent of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho and Bershka achieved net sales of €17.96bn, up 10% year on year. Like-for-like sales growth was also strong, it said, while global online sales were "on track".

Gross profit reached €10.3bn, up 10%, while gross margin was 57.4%. EBIT was up 6% at €2.99bn. The business has also been trading well in the lead-up to Christmas with store and online sales in local currencies up by 13% from 1 November to 11 December 2017.

During the nine-month period Inditex opened stores in 52 markets taking its total global store count to 7,504 stores in 94 markets. It also continued the roll-out of its fully integrated store and online sales platform with the launch of online sales for Zara in India in October, taking the total for Inditex to 45 markets.