Spanish owner of Zara posts 26% rise in half-year profit

Madrid: The Spanish owner of the Zara clothing store chain says profit for the first half of 2015 rose 26 per cent, boosted by growth in all its markets around the world.

Inditex Group said in a statement on Wednesday that profit for the January-June period was €1.2 billion (Dh4.9 billion).

Revenue for the period was €9.4 billion, up 17 per cent compared with the same six months last year.

Inditex says it opened new stores in 35 markets during the first six months of the year, lifting its total store count to 6,777 in 85 markets.

The company says more than 10,000 jobs were added and about a quarter of them were in Spain.

Inditex shares were up 3.1 per cent on Wednesday morning in Madrid.