Inditex profits boom, profit sharing scheme 

Inditex, the Spanish owner of fast fashion retailer Zara, has announced net profits for its fiscal 2014 of just over €2.5 billion, a five per cent rise year-on-year.

Net sales were up eight per cent to €18.1 billion, from €16.7 billion in 2013, and although gross profit was up seven per cent to €10.6 billion, the company’s gross margin slipped somewhat to 58.3 per cent from 59.3 per cent in the previous year.

Inditex also announced plans for a profit share scheme over the next two years for any group employees who have been with the company for at least two years, which amounts to some 70,000 of Inditex’s 137,000 staff.

Inditex opened 343 stores in the 54 markets it operates within, resulting in a new total of 6,683 locations across its store network.

The fashion group launched new ecommerce platforms in Mexico and South Korea last year, to increase its reach to 27 markets and it plans to launch into smaller Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan during 2015.

Inditex’s board is set to propose a €0.52 per share dividend to the company’s shareholders at July’s AGM, with an interim dividend planned of half that figure planned for the beginning of May.