Inditex reveals fall in net income

The share price of fashion company Inditex is up today (June 11th) despite the company announcing a fall in its net income in its new financial results.

Data for the first quarter of the firm's fiscal year, from February to April, show its net income amounted to €406 million (242 million), which is down on the figure of €438 million it recorded in the first quarter of 2013.

Inditex hailed success stories such as creating 8,000 jobs in the last 12 months, while new stores were opened in 26 different markets during the three-month period.

Store sales in local currencies were revealed to have increased by 11 per cent between February 1st and June 8th, while the firm also announced a 5-for-1 stock split is set to be proposed by the company's board at the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The results showed that the company, which is the parent firm of clothing retailer Zara, reported sales affected by currency impact reached €3.7 billion, which was up four per cent year-on-year.

Ecommerce growth

Zara will launch its ecommerce platform in South Korea and Mexico in September, joining the 25 countries in which the group already sells products online. The firm said: "In parallel, Zara will widen its offer in China through the launch of an online store in the Tmall ecommerce platform in the 2014 autumn/winter season."

The company's AGM is now set to be held on July 15th and this will give shareholders in the business the chance to ask questions about what the future holds for the retail company.

Inditex now runs 6,393 stores across the group's 88 operating markets, with the opening of new shops in locations such as Seattle (US), Sydney (Australia) and Rome (Italy) picked out as highlights of the last 12 months.

Following the release of the results, the share price of Inditex rose strongly today. By 14:37 BST, stocks in the company were 1.77 per cent up compared to the start of the day.

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