Spain's Inditex profits rise by 26 pct in its first fiscal semester

Multinational textile giant Inditex increased profits by 26 percent in its first fiscal semester (from February to July) earning a total of 1.166 billion euros (1.308 billion U.S. dollars), according to data released by the company on Wednesday.

Sales increased in all geographic areas reaching 9.421 billion euros, while in Spain they rose by 6.3 percent between February and July when compared with the same period of a year earlier and represented 17.4 percent of the total number of sales.

Sales in Europe accounted for 42.7 percent of the total (excluding Spain), while in Asia represented 25.2 percent and in the United States represented 14.7 percent of the total.

Inditex operates eight brands including Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterque. Zara's sales represented 65 percent of the total reaching 6.140 billion euros.

The company created more than 10,000 new job opportunities over the last year: 2,532 in Spain, resulting in a workforce of 141,192 people by the end of July.

From February to July, the company opened 94 new stores in 35 markets, bringing the total number of stores to 6,777 stores in 88 markets by the end of the fiscal semester.

In the second semester, the company plans to open between 320 and 380 new stores. Among others, Inditex will open a new store in Amsterdam, Vladivostok (Russia), Lausanne (Switzerland), Brussels, and Baden-Baden (Germany).

Inditex is the world's leading clothing retailer. It's founder, Amancio Ortega Gaona, passed U.S. investor Warren Buffet to become the world's second-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index published at the beginning of June. Endit