Zara parent Inditex posts sales up 12% in Q1

Spanish group Inditex, which owns the Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Stradivarius brands, continues to buck the trend for tough trading in retail and has posted revenues up 12% at €4.9bn in Q1 2016. Net profit at the group was also up by 6% at €554m.

During Q1 the group, which also owns Oysho, Uterque and Pull&Bear, expanded its reach to a total of 90 markets, having opened inaugural stores in Aruba and Nicaragua. Zara, Pull&Bear and Bershka made their début in Nicaragua while Zara opened in Aruba.

The openings meant that by the end of the first-quarter, the group had 7,085 physical stores, having opened a net 72 stores in 31 markets.

Some of the most noteworthy openings of the quarter included Zara store in New York's SoHo district, Pull&Bear's first store in Luxembourg, Zara Home's first stores in South Africa and Serbia (in Johannesburg and Belgrade respectively), Stradivarius' first flagship store in Amsterdam and Oysho's maiden store in Belgium.

Store openings continued apace in Q2 with Zara and Zara Home opening in Paraguay, Massimo Dutti opening its first store in India and Stradivarius opened its largest-ever store on London's Oxford Street, the 1,500sqm store is spread over three floors and houses lifestyle and womenswear. The menswear floor is due to open in 2017.

With regards to online, all of Inditex's brands expanded their ecommerce platforms in the European Union, having launched their online stores in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and the Czech Republic. As a result, Inditex now has an ecommerce presence in a total of 39 markets worldwide.