Inditex’s net profit makes leap but share price falls sharply

13 December 2007

MADRID – Leading Spanish retailer said its net profit in the nine months to October was up 30 percent at EUR 825 million as sales rose 17 percent to EUR 6.633 million due to the opening of new stores.

However, growth in like-for-like sales slowed to 3.5 percent, reflecting a slowdown in consumer spending as a result of higher borrowing costs in Spain, which still accounts for about 40 percent of Inditex’s revenues.
 
That helped explain the sharp drop in Inditex’s share price yesterday. The stock closed down 5.13 percent at EUR 47.20. Shares had risen 3.4 percent on Wednesday ahead of the results announcement.

During the current financial year, Inditex opened a net 411 new outlets and increased its sales area by 184,000 square metres. Three quarters of the stores were in Europe. Inditex also set up in Macau and Hangzhou in China. As a result it increased its workforce in the past 12 months by 10,377 to 76,087.

Gross operating profit in the form of EBITDA climbed 25 percent to EUR 1.475 billion in the nine months.

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL./ Adrián Soto 2007]

Subject: Spanish news