The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
MADRID, Spain — Inditex SA, the world's largest clothing retailer, reported its fastest annual profit growth in three years as it added stores and expanded online sales.
Net income rose 15 percent to 2.88 billion euros ($3.2billion) in the period through Jan. 31, the owner of the Zara and Massimo Dutti brands said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. Analysts expected 2.9 billion euros, according to the average estimate. Full-year sales of 20.9 billion euros matched the consensus.
Since its 2001 initial public offering, the retailer has boosted its sales more than sixfold through aggressive expansion of its eight chains. While Inditex has opened an average of about 400 stores per year, the pace has slowed down in recent years as focus moved to having fewer but larger shops. The average Zara store size was 558 square meters in 2015 compared with 530 square meters in 2006, according to Credit Suisse.
By Rodrigo Orihuela; editors: Matthew Boyle and Thomas Mulier.
In 2020, like many companies, the $50 billion yoga apparel brand created a new department to improve internal diversity and inclusion, and to create a more equitable playing field for minorities. In interviews with BoF, 14 current and former employees said things only got worse.
For fashion’s private market investors, deal-making may provide less-than-ideal returns and raise questions about the long-term value creation opportunities across parts of the fashion industry, reports The State of Fashion 2024.
A blockbuster public listing should clear the way for other brands to try their luck. That, plus LVMH results and what else to watch for in the coming week.
L Catterton, the private-equity firm with close ties to LVMH and Bernard Arnault that’s preparing to take Birkenstock public, has become an investment giant in the consumer-goods space, with stakes in companies selling everything from fashion to pet food to tacos.