Zara owner Inditex posts record profit for first half

Zara owner Inditex, the world's biggest fashion retailer, posted a record net profit for the first half of the year on Wednesday, despite slower sales growth.

The Spanish group said its profit rose 10 percent to 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in the first six months of its financial year, which ends July 31.

"The design and quality of our fashion proposition and the experience we offer our customers are, together with the efficiency and increasing sustainability of our operations, the keys to the solidity of these results," Inditex chief executive Oscar Garcia Maceiras said in a statement.

Inditex, which also owns Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti and Stradivarius, said its spring and summer collections were "very well received" by customers.

Sales increased by 7.2 percent to 18.1 billion euros, but it was a slower pace than in the first six months of 2023, when they grew by 13.5 percent.

Analysts, however, had expected the slowdown after four years of record earnings. The group's net profit was close to expectations from analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.

Traditional fashion retailers have endured tough competition from low-cost shopping platforms such as Chinese-founded rival Shein or Ireland's Primark.

Inditex, however, has brushed off the competition and its share price has jumped by 30 percent since last year.