Inditex grows again in the physical channel. The Galician fashion distribution group closed the first quarter (between February and April) registering the first net growth of its store network since 2021. Inditex has closed this period with six net openings, compared to the 14 net closings it carried out in the same period of 2023 and the 30 net closings it carried out in the last quarter of the previous year.
In the third quarter of 2021, when Inditex ended the period with a positive net balance of three more establishments, it was the last recorded in which Inditex has increased this figure. Since then, The Galician group has completed its years with a systematic reduction of its global network of establishmentswhich range from 180 closures in the fourth quarter of 2021, to 14 establishment closures in the first quarter of 2023.
Inditex has maintained momentum in the first quarter of the year, with a turnover of 8,150 million euros, which represents an increase of 7.1% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, and with a net profit of 1,294 million euros, 10.8% more. The company’s gross margin grew by 7.3%, to 4,940 million euros, which represents 60.6% of its turnover.
The group It has closed the first three months of the year with a network of 5,698 establishments, up to 103 fewer establishments than in April 2023. Pull&Bear, with 14 more establishments, and Stradivarius, with one more net store, are the only brands that have completed the quarter with a greater number of establishments.
Inditex has closed the first quarter increasing its net number of stores for the first time since 2021
The Galician group ended the period, however, with 1,806 establishments of its main chain, Zara, 72 stores less than in the first quarter of 2023. The company also reduced its Zara Home commercial network by 17 stores, to 409 stores. Both Massimo Dutti and Oysho have maintained their year-on-year number of stores, which reach 548 and 429 establishments, respectively, while Bershka has reduced it by two, to 856 establishments.
Inditex has indicated that has made openings in 28 markets, including Uzbekistan, where it has opened the company’s first physical stores in the Tashkent City Mall. In April, the group also began operating again in Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia, which involved the opening of 19 stores of up to seven of its brands.
The company details in its quarterly results that It foresees a growth in annual gross space in the period 2024 to 2026 of 5%, in conjunction with a “strong evolution of online sales”. Inditex refers to a “highly fragmented” sector and points out that it has a low market share in each of the 214 markets in which it is present. Therefore: “we see strong opportunities for growth.”
Some of the openings that Inditex has highlighted in the information sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) are that of Zara in the Piraeus Tower in Athens (Greece), that of Massimo Dutti in Cannes (France) and that of Oysho in London (United Kingdom).
