Challenges: Marta Ortega Perez (pictured) is to take over Zara owner Inditex next month
The daughter of the founder of Zara owner Inditex will face a series of headaches when she starts running the world’s biggest fashion house next month.
Marta Ortega Perez will step up as chairman amid soaring inflation and a war in Ukraine which has forced it to shut up shop in Russia – one of its biggest markets. The fashion giant yesterday said sales in the 12 months to the end of January rose 36 per cent to £23billion.
That was within a whisker of the record turnover of £24billion reached two years ago before Covid struck. Its profits almost tripled last year to £2.7billion. Sales have risen back above pre-pandemic levels since the start of the new financial year in February – driven partly by an online boom.
But this month shares crashed as it announced the closure of its 502 shops in Russia, which account for around 8.5 per cent of profit. Russia and Ukraine accounted for 5 per cent of sales growth.
Inditex, which also owns brands including Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, has 6,829 shops worldwide.
It took a £336million sales hit at Christmas because of the Omicron variant. And it has raised prices to protect margins as it grapples with rising material and wage costs.
Ortega Perez, 38, is the only child of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega and his second wife Flora Perez, and has worked for the £57billion company for 16 years.
Having started aged 22 as a sales associate at the Zara store on King’s Road in London, she is credited with strengthening its brand and fashion.
According to Global Data analyst Emily Salter inflation and store closures in Russia will cause headaches for the company.
‘The outlook for Inditex is generally good,’ she said.
‘Inflation is a massive problem for the industry, not only the rising cost of materials but oil prices going up too.
‘People who shop at Zara might find that it is going to be too expensive in the coming months and they might choose to buy from competitors like H&M and Primark instead.’
Shares in Madrid fell 2.5 per cent, and are down nearly 25 per cent this year.
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