Zara Owner Shrugs Off Middle East Turmoil to Post Faster Sales Growth — Update

By Andrea Figueras

Spanish fashion giant Inditex said sales growth picked up last month despite a difficult market environment for apparel companies as the war in the Middle East pushes up raw-material and shipping costs.

The group, home to high-street labels like Zara, Massimo Dutti and Bershka, said Wednesday that sales rose 11.5% on a constant-currency basis in May compared with the prior-year period. That marked an acceleration from the sales increase of just shy of 9% it booked for its first quarter through April 30 to a total of 8.75 billion euros ($10.18 billion).

"We are very pleased with the strong evolution of sales," finance chief Andres Sanchez Iglesias said during a call.

May's performance confirms the group's ability to step up market-share gains at a time when European demand has become more challenged, analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note. "Today investors were looking for reassurance that the group is well set to navigate through the toughening global backdrop which has emerged over the past three months," they said.

Apparel retailers face the impact of higher costs caused by the war in the Persian Gulf, along with worsened consumer sentiment. Companies are also grappling with the volatility of oil prices, a raw material used in the fashion industry for the production of clothing in synthetic fibers such as polyester and as a lubricant for manufacturing machinery.

"We have been able to rapidly adapt our supply chain to ensure uninterrupted product flow to our stores globally," Sanchez said. The diversification of Inditex's operations and supply chains enabled the group to adapt its transportation methods and choose between air, sea, or land transport, depending on the most viable option, he said.

The stock was up 5.4% in European morning trading.

The company said that all of its roughly 480 stores in the Middle East region, which are operated under a franchise, remain open and that it hasn't seen any major impact from energy-driven price inflation.

For the year through January 2027, Inditex said it continues to anticipate a broadly stable gross margin compared with a year earlier.

Write to Andrea Figueras at andrea.figueras@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2026 06:01 ET (10:01 GMT)