La Coruña (Spain), 16 Mar The Spanish multinational Inditex, which encompasses brands such as Zara and Pull&Bear, earned 3,243 million euros (about 3,555 million dollars) in its fiscal year 2021 (closed last January), almost triple that of 2020, and was only 11% below the record for earnings of the pre-pandemic 2019. As detailed on Wednesday by the textile group to the stock market supervisor in Spain, the National Securities Market Commission, sales of the firm founded by the Spaniard Amancio Ortega rose 36% compared to 2020 and reached 27,716 million euros (about 30,386 million dollars). Internet business grew by 14% and already represents 25.5% of the total in the group, whose goal is to reach 30% by 2024 At a constant exchange rate, turnover was 3% higher than in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic, despite having 13% fewer stores. During 2021, its commercial activity returned to normal after the outbreak of the pandemic, until in the fourth quarter the high incidence of the omicron variant translated again into a fall in activity, with temporary closures in several countries, with an extraordinary impact of 400 million euros (about 438.5 million dollars). Operating expenses during the entire year grew by 26 per cent, below sales, while the funds generated reached an all-time high and the net financial position rose by 24 per cent to 9,359 million euros (almost 10,261 million dollars). The largest Spanish company by market capitalization opened the year 2022 with a year-on-year increase in sales of 33% from February 1 to March 13, 21% compared to the historical precovid highs of 2019. COUNTRIES AND BRANDS In that period, sales in Russia and Ukraine grew by 5% despite the Russian invasion of its neighbor and the subsequent closure of its more than 500 stores in Russia. In Russia, it has more than 9,000 employees and obtains about 8.5 per cent of the operating result. In Ukraine at the end of the year it had 85 stores. Inditex says that during 2021 the United States was the second largest market, after Spain, where it had a turnover of 14.4% of the total. Europe, without Spain, contributed 48.4% of sales to the group and America recorded an increase of four points to 17.5%. By brands, Zara and Zara Home were 39% more; Pull&Bear 32%; Massimo Dutti grew on 30%; Bershka on 23rd; Stradivarius on 42nd; and Oysho on 15th. By 2022, it intends to invest around 1.1 billion euros (about 1,206 million dollars) and increase the retail area again, now that it has almost closed its store optimization plan, which has led it to close 578, to 6,477. The multinational, which defines itself as “one of the largest fashion distribution companies in the world”, was born in 1963 as a small company based in the Spanish province of La Coruña (northwest) and now has a presence in nearly a hundred countries. CHIEF mgl/ltm/lar/fp (photo) (video)
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