Profits up: Zara owner Inditex has been trying to entice customers with clothes that emulate luxury fashion as shoppers trade down from expensive brands
Profits at Zara owner Inditex surged after strong sales of summer dresses and blazers helped it widen its lead over rival H&M.
The world’s largest fashion retailer, which also owns Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Bershka, has been trying to entice customers with clothes that emulate luxury fashion as shoppers trade down from expensive brands.
The strategy seems to be working with profits up 39 per cent to £2.85billion in the first six months of 2023 while sales increased by 13.5 per cent to £14.6billion.
The results provide a boost for chairman Marta Ortega Perez, who took the reins of her father’s firm last year.
Business has also been helped by price rises – an estimated 2 per cent this year – according to Bank of America analyst Geoffroy De Mendez. He said Inditex could slash them by 2 per cent next year.
Sales growth was ‘a testament to the success’ of closing down smaller stores to focus on larger ones, according to Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Inditex chief executive Óscar García Maceiras said its strategy is ‘taking our business to the next level’.
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