The clothing giant, Inditex, returns to the prepaandemics results in the first half of 2021

The great Spanish company Textil Inditex, owner of Zara, Bershka and other lines, passed Pandemia page in the first semester with benefits close to those before the crisis, driven by the return of the clientele and the growth of sales of sales In Internet.

In the first six months of its year, which goes from February 1 to July 31, the Spanish group registered a net profit of 1,272 million euros ($ 1.5 billion), compared to the losses of 195 million (230 million ofdollars) of the same period of the previous year, he reported Wednesday in a statement.

The textile group billing reached 11,936 million euros (14,087 million dollars), 49% more than the previous year, thanks to the return of customers to stores and the strong increase in online sales.

"The recovery continues to accelerate," said the president of Inditex, Pablo Isla, at a telephone conference, ensuring that the group had returned to their level of activity prior to the health crisis.

Sales only in the second quarter were higher than those of the second quarter of 2019, before the Covid-19 Pandemia.

The group had sunk in red numbers in the first half of 2020, for the first time in almost twenty years, after having to close almost 90% of its stores worldwide due to the epidemic.

Since then it has taken a turn to the situation, helped by economic recovery.

In the Madrid Stock Exchange, the value dropped slightly to 08h45 GMT, losing a 1.16% in a market that lowered a 0.38 percent.

More than 25% of sales will be online in 2021

Según Inditex, la reactivación de la actividad se ha traducido en un aumento de las ventas de todas las marcas del grupo (Bershka, Pull&Bear, Massimo Duti, etc.), but it is especially accentuated in the case of Zara, whose billing has increased by 53% in one year.

The perspectives are also encouraging for the coming months, since "almost all the stores of the group" are already "open", according to Pablo Isla.

According to the group, sales in store and online between August 1 and September 9, 2021 increased by 22% to constant exchange rates in year -on -year terms and 9% compared to the same period of 2019.

"Internet sales continue to grow at a high rate," says Inditex.

Thus, digital sales grew by 36% compared to the first semester of 2020 and 137% compared to the same period of 2019.Inditex expects online sale to exceed 25% of the total sale in exercise 2021.

Pandemia led the company to accelerate the reorganization of its stores, closing the smallest to concentrate on large surfaces located in the most prestigious arteries of large cities.

At the end of July, Inditex had 6,654 stores worldwide, 683 less than a year and 175 less than at the beginning of the year.

Los grandes grupos textiles se han visto muy afectados por las restricciones ligadas a la crisis sanitaria: la sueca H&M vio sus beneficios netos reducirse un 90% en 2020, mientras que la japonesa Fast Retailing (Uniqlo) sufrió una caída del 44% en sus ganancias en 2019-2020.

These two groups, direct competitors of Inditex in the low -cost fashion sector, have also managed to straighten the course in recent months, but to a lesser extent than the Spanish group.