Charlie Smith
AMANCIO Ortega has an extra €2.75 billion in his pocket this Christmas thanks to a huge stocks recovery.
Spain’s richest man founded Inditex, the parent company of high-street retailer Zara, and is thought to be worth €71.3.
The company has seen a 5.2% increase in its stock value following the announcement of its third quarter sales.
The Galicia-based textiles giant saw a €2,758 million revaluation in shares — this is 59% of the company’s total capital.
It comes after the market reacted to the news that up to October of this year Inditex’s sales had increased by 7.5% to €19.8 billion.
The first nine months of 2019 is a record period for the business, which has exceeded €19 billion for the first time in its history and has almost hit the €20 billion mark.
Only a few years ago, this figure was the equivalent to the multinational company’s sales for the whole year.
Clothing firm Zara brought in 70% of sales for Inditex, which also owns Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and Stradivarius.
Turnover in the third quarter of 2019 also surpassed €7 billion for the first time ever, and was also 9.2% higher than the same three months of 2018.
The quarter is also the best Inditex has had since 2017 and exceeds the 8.5% growth in turnover, predicted by Bloomberg analysts from August to October.
Inditex president Pablo Isla attributed to the impressive figures to the integration of online and offline stock, which has allowed the company to streamline its inventory by 5%, which improves gross profit margins.
