MADRID, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Spain-based textile giant Inditex, which is the parent company of fashion retailer "Zara", on Wednesday announced a profit of 1.549 billion euros (1.708 billion U.S. dollars) for the six month period between February and July.
The company confirmed that profits were up by 10 percent from a year ago with a 7 percent increase in sales to 12,820 million euros (14.136 million dollars), highlighting that sales have been "positive in every concept: both in terms of geographic regions and in shops and online."
Online sales have been an important motor for Inditex's continued growth and the company reported that sales via the Internet have increased by 8 percent between Aug. 1 and Sept. 8, with the "autumn collection" being "well received" by clients.
Meanwhile, sales are expected to grow 4-6 percent for 2019 as a whole.
Europe is still Inditex's main market with 44.4 percent of the sales from February to July coming from the continent, compared with 44.2 percent in 2018, while at the end of July the group had a total of 7,420 shops open worldwide.
Inditex said it will invest "around 1.400 billion euros (1.540 billion dollars), mainly in opening new commercial space in key residential areas," in the coming year, as well as continuing with "the global launch of online sales".
