Inditex posted a surprise profit for Q2

The Spanish clothing group Inditex, the parent company of well-known chains such as Zara, Bershka and Pull & Bear, made a profit in the second quarter. Almost all of the company’s subsidiaries were open again during the measurement period.

In the first quarter, from February to the end of March, many shops remained closed due to lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Although there are still restrictions in a number of places, 98% of branches are now open again, the company stated in a trade notice.

Inditex earned a profit of 214 million euros between May and the end of July. This was a loss of EUR 409 million in the first quarter, the first quarterly negative result since Inditex was quoted two decades ago.

In concrete terms, a minus of EUR 195 million was put into the books in the first half of 2020. But if a provision of hundreds of millions for the digitisation of shops were excluded from the figures, there would be a six-month profit of EUR 39 million.

However, the revenues remain well behind, as customers continue to avoid shopping malls due to concerns about corona. But recovery has also been started there. For example, turnover in the first quarter was 44% lower than a year ago and 31% in the second quarter. Inditex’s half-year turnover amounted to just over 8 billion euros. The company does good business Online. For example, during the reporting period the limit of 1 million orders was broken in one day.