Spanish firm that owns Zara announces record sales for 2022 and surge in profits

The Spanish company that owns Zara and a raft of other high-street fashion brands recorded record sales last year.

Galicia-based Inditex got its turnover back to pre-Covid levels in 2022 and went a long way beyond that. The multinational, also behind names such as Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, made 32.6 billion euros in sales, 17% more than in the 2021 financial year and 15% more than in 2019, before the outbreak of the pandemic. This caused a sharp drop in its revenue due to the closure of shops around the world.

Net profit also soared to 4.13 billion euros, 27% more than the previous year and 15% more than in 2019, according to the accounts which were filed on Wednesday this week.

The announcement marked the first anniversary of Marta Ortega, daughter of founder Amancio Ortega, taking over as head of the company.

The good news came without the contribution of the Russian market, which represented 8.5% of the group's net operating profit but where, after the outbreak of the war, Inditex decided to suspend its activity and sell its more than 500 shops to the Daher group.

Despite these good results, the market did not react favourably and the company fell almost 5% on the stock market at midday, with shares at 27.7 euros per share.

Amancio Ortega, founder and largest shareholder, received 2.2 billion euros in dividends and Marta Ortega, who acts as non-executive chairperson, received 834,000 euros

The CEO, Óscar García Maceiras, who has also been in the post a year, earned 8.3 million euros including share benefits.