Zara owner Inditex SA’s sales accelerated in November, highlighting its resilience in the face of weakening consumer sentiment that’s hitting most fashion retailers.
Revenue at the world’s largest listed clothing retailer, not including currency effects, rose 10.6 percent in the four weeks to Dec. 1, the Spanish company said on Wednesday. The growth in the early weeks of the company’s fiscal fourth quarter came after sales rose 8.4 percent at constant currencies in the third quarter.
The gain offers some relief following a lackluster spell, and may ease concerns that the Spanish retailer was losing steam. Inditex’s long-standing formula of lean stock levels, trend-driven designs and an agile supply chain has long given it an edge over competitors like Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz AB.
Still, the company’s expansion has cooled markedly from early post-pandemic highs, weighed down by trade frictions and softer consumer demand. The depreciation of the dollar and other currencies is also eroding Inditex’s reported sales by diminishing the euro value of revenue generated abroad. Inditex expects FX swings to wipe out about 4 percent of this year’s revenue — an impact equivalent to losing several weeks of growth.
On a reported basis, sales grew 4.9 percent to €9.8 billion ($11.4 billion) in the three months to Oct. 31 — in line with analysts’ estimates.
By Clara Hernanz Lizarraga
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