Zara owner Inditex meets Q4 sales forecast but recent sales slow

By Helen Reid

ARTEIXO, Spain (Reuters) -Zara owner Inditex on Wednesday reported sales for its fourth quarter ending January 31 in line with analysts’ expectations, sealing another year of strong growth for the world’s biggest listed fast-fashion retailer.

Inditex’s first quarter started a little more slowly, though, with sales up just 4% in currency-neutral terms over the February 1 to March 10 period, compared to 11% growth a year ago.

Sales grew 10.5% in currency-neutral terms, to 38.6 billion euros ($42.07 billion) for the year, Inditex said, as fourth-quarter sales came in at 11.2 billion euros.

In comments on its 2025 outlook, Inditex said it had a “strong commitment to profitable growth” after net profit for 2024 grew 9% to 5.9 billion euros.

“The excellent sales and profit figures show the solidity of the Inditex Group’s profitable growth,” Chief Executive Officer Oscar Garcia Maceiras said in a statement.

Inditex, which also owns Bershka, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, and Oysho, said it would hike its dividend by 9% to 1.68 euros per share.

($1 = 0.9174 euros)

(Reporting by Helen Reid, editing by Inti Landauro and Kim Coghill)