Zara proprietor Inditex experiences disappointing third-quarter product sales By Reuters

By Corina Pons and Helen Reid

MADRID (Reuters) -Zara proprietor Inditex (BME:) posted a unusual miss on third-quarter product sales on Wednesday nevertheless the world’s largest listed fast-fashion retailer acknowledged the holiday shopping for season had obtained off to a superb start.

Product sales of 9.36 billion euros obtained right here in below the 9.51 billion anticipated by analysts. An 8.5% rise in nine-month net income to 4.44 billion euros moreover lagged the 4.52 billion anticipated by analysts.

Excessive flooding on the end of October in Spain, Inditex’s largest market, most likely injury the retailer’s effectivity, analysts acknowledged, though the company gave no motive for the miss.

Inditex reported a superb start to the holiday season though, with revenues rising 9% in currency-adjusted phrases in the middle of the six weeks to Dec. 9, which contains the necessary factor Black Friday product sales. Nonetheless, that was slower than the 14% product sales growth reported a yr up to now.

“We had a strong start to the ultimate quarter in the direction of a demanding comparable within the equivalent interval of 2023,” Inditex’s capital market director, Marcos Lopez, suggested Reuters.

He acknowledged currency-adjusted product sales growth was 10.5% inside the first 9 months of the fiscal yr and currency-adjusted growth in fastened international cash in the middle of the third quarter was the quickest of the yr.

Analysts had anticipated an have an effect on from floods in Spain, Inditex’s largest market.

Garments product sales in Spain common fell 2.8% in November as Black Friday promotions failed to attract ample shoppers, in response to development retailers’ affiliation Acotex.

Shares in Inditex fell 6% on the open.

($1 = 0.9500 euros)