Inditex Revenue Growth Outstrips Pre-pandemic Levels in Q3
LONDON — Growth at Zara’s parent Inditex continues to outstrip pre-pandemic levels, with fiscal third-quarter revenue climbing 10 percent compared with the corresponding period in 2019, and 21 percent compared with 2020.
The momentum has continued into the current fourth quarter: Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 10, store and online sales in local currencies increased 10 percent compared with 2019, and 33 percent year-over-year.
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In the first nine months, revenue reached 19.33 billion euros, up 37 percent year-over-year, while net profit was 2.5 billion euros, a 273 percent uptick compared with 2020. Inditex said EBITDA totaled 5.43 billion euros, up 63 percent year-over-year.
The group’s net cash position hit a new record, according to the company, reaching 9.57 billion euros, enabled by the company’s “strong” cash generation capacity.
Inditex’s executive chairman, Pablo Isla, said the results “demonstrate the solidity of our business model, the quality and commitment of our teams, and our strategy of fully integrating stores and online.”
Oscar Garcia Maceiras, the group’s newly named chief executive officer, added that the results “confirm the significance of extending, deepening and developing our integrated business model, the company’s key differentiating characteristic.”
Online sales in local currencies registered year-over-year growth of 28 percent in the first nine months of 2021, and growth of 124 percent against the same period in 2019, the company said.
As reported last month, Inditex has made major changes at the top, hiring a new CEO and chair, and completing a generational handover that began a decade ago when founder Amancio Ortega stepped down as chairman.
Maceiras took up the role of CEO while Ortega’s daughter Marta Ortega Perez was named chair of the group, effective April 1. The company said she will serve as a proprietary director, which means she will be acting in representation of her ownership interest.
Isla, who spent 17 years at Inditex, as deputy chairman, CEO and executive chairman, will leave the company on March 31, as planned, and has been overseeing the CEO handover.
Until now, Maceiras had been general counsel of Inditex and secretary of the board. Like Isla, Maceiras comes from a legal and financial background.
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