Spanish fashion giant and owner of Zara, Inditex, reported its quarterly profit jumped 80% on soaring sales as consumers stuck at home during the pandemic refurbished their wardrobes.
Net profit for the quarter from February to April increased to 760 million euros ($812.06 million), in line with analysts’ expectations as the firm surpassed pre-pandemic levels while its gross margin hit a 10-year high, the firm said.
Sales for the first quarter of 2022 jumped 36% to 6.7 billion euros as the firm offset higher costs with price increases at the beginning of the year.
In the first quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Inditex reported a profit of 734 million euros and total sales of 5.93 billion euros.
The CEO of Inditex, Garcia Maceiras, reported that this earnings set resulted from a well-differentiated model delivered powerfully.
The firm said its gross margin was tallied at 60.1%, the highest level in a decade while operating expenses grew at a slower pace than sales at 24%.
The ongoing economic recovery and recovery from COVID-19 in Europe, Britain, and the United States helped the Spanish fashion group make up for part of the lost Russian revenue after the firm closed its 502 Russian shops in March following the Ukrainian invasion.
