In the first nine months of FY2014 - 1 February - 31 October - Inditex's revenues were up 7% to €12.7 billion. In constant currency terms, sales growth was 10.5%, while like-for-like sales growth during the period was strong. EBITDA and income before taxes were up 2%, while net profit amounted to €1.7 billion, up 1% from a year earlier.

Over the past year, Inditex has created 8,520 new jobs, 1,500 of which were in Spain. The Group's global headcount totalled 133,400 as at 31 October 2014.

Key figures (first nine months of 2014)

(million euros)

9M14

9M13

YoY growth

Net sales

12,709

11,925

7%

Gross profit    
Gross margin

7,491
58.9%

7,141
59.9%

5%

EBITDA

2,825

2,776

2%

EBIT

2,161

2,148

1%

Net income 1,687 1,674

1%

The Group continues to expand its global, fully integrated store and online sales platform. In the first nine months of 2014, it opened a net 230 new stores, in 50 countries and expanded its online footprint. Following recent online launches in South Korea and Mexico during the past quarter, the Group is now present in 27 markets.

New stores were opened in all geographic regions; strong space growth continued, helped by major openings across all of the Group's concepts. Over the nine months, net new openings hit 154 in Europe, 34 in the Americas and 70 in Asia and the rest of the world, bringing the global footprint to 6,570 stores across 88 markets.

All of the Group's concepts had net new openings over the period and continued to roll out their newest store images. Specifically, during the third quarter, Stradivarius opened its first store in the UK, Massimo Dutti launched in Austria and Pull&Bear opened its first store in the Philippines. 

Some highlights over the quarter include four new Zara stores in Australia (Sydney, Perth and Brisbane), a further four Zara stores in Germany (Bremen, Stuttgart, Berlin and Hagen), plus another three in Brazil (Fortaleza, Santa Catarina and Vila Velha), two in the US (California and Virginia), two in Japan (Osaka and Kawasaki) and eight in China, as well as new Zara stores in cities such as Seoul, Cape Town and Vienna.

Highlights among the Group's other concepts include: the new Massimo Dutti store in the historic heart of Vienna (Kholmarkt, 9) and in Seoul (Coex Mall); three new Pull&Bear stores in Germany (in Dresden, Stuttgart and Oberhausen); two new Bershka stores in Japan (Osaka and Utsunomiya) plus another four in Germany (Berlin, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Dresden); as well as further openings in major shopping districts in cities such as Osaka, Nagoya and Rio de Janeiro. In November, Zara Home launched in South Korea and Hungary.

New logistics facility, Cabanillas
The new distribution logistics facility in Cabanillas, central Spain, is now running at full capacity. This facility, in conjunction with the distribution centre in Narón, northwest Spain has allowed Pull&Bear to provide fully-automated distribution to all its stores around the world. The start-up of the Cabanillas facility entailed an investment of around €150 million.

RFID technology rollout
Implementation of RFID technology continued as scheduled. The Group plans for this stock management technology to be fully operational in 1,000 Zara stores (including all of the concepts stores in Spain, Portugal, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia and much of the US) by the end of this year; with the aim of implementing RFID in all Zara stores by 2016. 

This innovative system is enabling Zara to enhance the customer offering by speeding up the purchasing process and improving the availability of popular stock on the shop floor through better data collection between stores and distribution centres.

Fourth-quarter trading update
Store and online sales increased by 14% in local currencies between 1 November and 8 December 2014.

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