Spanish fashion retail giant Inditex back in the black

CLOTHING:Sales at the company behind the Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull & Bear clothing brands rose by 6.7 per cent to €71.1 million in the year to January 31st, 2012.

Inditex, the Spanish clothing retailer and one of the world’s largest fashion distribution groups, employs 440 people in 18 stores in Ireland.

Zara, the best-known brand in the Inditex chain, reported pre-tax profits at its Irish outlets of €2.5 million in the year to January 31st 2012, compared to losses of €3.3 million the previous year.

Sales rose 8.8 per cent to €50,033,000 and selling and distribution costs fell 12.5 per cent to €24.1 million. Zara employs 310 full-time staff in its nine Irish stores.

Sales at the firm’s high- end Massimo Dutti brand, which has one Irish outlet in Dundrum shopping centre, were static, and it posted a pre-tax profit of €596,000. It has 17 full-time employees.

Bershka, aimed at the youth market, narrowed its losses to €1.1 million from €2 million in the previous year.

Pull and Bear, also youth-oriented, grew sales and narrowed losses to €426,000 from €806,000.