Spain’s Inditex, the world’s biggest clothes group by sales and owner of the Zara brand, saw net profits jump by almost a third for the year as it brushed off rising raw material costs.

It said it had surpassed the 5,000-store mark as expansion continued in Asia and Europe. This month Inditex announced the purchase of a $324 million (€229.7 million) Zara store in New York. Net profit for the year to the end of January rose from €1.31 billion to €1.73 billion as sales rose 13 per cent to €12.53 billion. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)