Industria de Diseño Textil SA, owner of the apparel chain Zara, on March 14 reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations as steady growth in sales continued with the rollout of a fully integrated store and online platform.
Inditex, as the company is known, reported that net income attributable to the controlling company in the three months to Jan. 31, 2018, increased 7.5% year over year to €1.03 billion from €955 billion in the year-ago period, surpassing the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of €1.02 billion.
Sales in the period increased 6.8% year over year to €7.37 billion from €6.91 billion.
For the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2018, net income rose 6.6% year over year to €3.37 billion from €3.16 billion as sales swelled 9% to €25.34 billion from €23.31 billion. Earnings per share climbed to €1.08 from €1.01, in line with the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate for normalized EPS of €1.08.
The company, based in Arteixo, Spain, reported its board would propose a 10.3% year-over-year increase in the dividend to 75 cents per share.
In the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2018, online sales ballooned 41% year over year and accounted for 10% of group sales. In 2017, Inditex invested €1.8 billion in further developing its radio-frequency identification technology to improve flexibility and response times by integrating stores and online inventories.
The system is fully up and running at Zara and will be deployed in 2018 at Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear and Uterqüe, and it go groupwide by 2020.
"The prescient investments made in technology and logistics in recent years, coupled with space optimization, mean the company is well-placed for continued growth across all its markets," Inditex Chairman and CEO Pablo Isla said in a statement.
Inditex also reported that sales in local currencies in the period from Feb. 1, 2018, to March 11, 2018, increased 9% year over year.
In addition, the company said it appointed Carlos Crespo, formerly the head of internal audit, as COO.
