Inditex posted net profit of 3.243 billion euros in its fiscal year 2021, up 193% from a year earlier, when its earnings were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The figure was still 11% below the 3.639 billion euros recorded in 2019.
Total sales at the Zara owner rose 36% to 27.716 billion euros year-on-year, while online sales increased by 14% to 7.5 billion euros, 25.5% of the total in 2021.
The Spanish clothing retailer flagged on Wednesday that sales surged well above pre-Covid 19 levels at the beginning of its new financial year. Online sales jumped 33% between Feb. 1 and March 13 from the same period a year earlier, and were up 21% on 2019 levels.
Gross margin stood at 15.814 billion euros in the fiscal year 2021, up 39% year-on-year. This represents 57.1% of sales, the highest level for the last six years. EBITDA was up 58% at 7.183 billion euros, while EBIT increased by 184% to 4.282 billion.
Next month, Marta Ortega, the daughter of Inditex founder Amancio, will take over as chairwoman of the group in the last step of a generational handover started a decade ago.
One of the challenges facing the new management will be the fact that it has stopped trading in Russia, one of its major markets, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Inditex said the United States became its largest market in 2021, after Spain.
