Zara'S Parent Company Releases Some Factory Production Masks And Protective Clothing Fabrics To Help Spain Fight The Epidemic.

In the 2019 fiscal year, Inditex group's total sales increased 8% to 28 billion 300 million euros compared with the same period. The outbreak of the new crown virus outbreak on the global scale has inevitably had a "very significant impact" on the group's current business. Inditex has allocated net profit as an emergency reserve and has not published dividend related information.

As a result of the spread of the epidemic, all countries around the world have taken urgent measures to prevent and control. Many countries' public places which are not necessary for people's livelihood have been suspended. Inditex also shut down 3785 stores in 39 countries and regions around the world. In March 14th, the Spanish government stepped up its control and Inditex closed all its Spanish stores.

However, as China's epidemic situation has been gradually controlled, group stores in China have resumed their business in addition to 11 stores. With the implementation of the first round of closed shop policy, Inditex's global sales fell 24.1% in the first two weeks of March.

Inditex Group Chairman and CEO Pablo Isla is very satisfied with the group's performance in fiscal year 2019. He said that the group's top priority is to ensure the health and safety of all the staff and their families in this special period. Inditex is in good financial condition and its profitability is also growing. They are confident of the group's business model and long-term development. They will continue to implement long-term development plans to upgrade offline stores and online platforms. Due to the uncertainty of the epidemic, it is not yet possible to assert the impact of this incident on the group business.

Although the epidemic has hit a lot on retail channels, online business in all group markets remains normal. Thanks to the flexible business mode, the supply chain of the group is operating normally, and the spring and summer series is also well received by consumers.

In order to help the Spanish government solve the shortage of medical supplies such as respirators and medical protective clothing, Inditex plans to transform some of its fabric production lines into professional medical fabric production lines. Previously, the Group donated 10 thousand medical masks. This weekend, the latest deployment of 300 thousand special respirators will also arrive.

In the 2019 fiscal year ended January 31, 2020, the core financial data of its Inditex group, including Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterque, are as follows:

Sales increased by 8% to 28 billion 300 million euros, unchanged from 8% at the same rate.

Gross profit rose 7% to 15 billion 800 million euros, gross profit margin dropped 0.79 percentage points to 55.9%. In order to cope with the outbreak of the new crown, Inditex reserved a reserve of 287 million euros, excluding the reserve. The gross profit of the group increased 9% to 16 billion 100 million euros, and the gross profit margin increased 0.22 percentage points to 56.9%.

EBITDA (profit before depreciation and amortization) was 7 billion 600 million euros, 5 billion 500 million euros in the same period last year, excluding the epidemic reserve, EBITDA grew 44.5% year on year.

Net profit increased by 6% to 3 billion 600 million euros compared with the same period last year, and net profit excluding the epidemic reserve increased by 12% over the same period last year.

Earnings per share: group net profit will be allocated to emergency reserves due to the global outbreak of the new crown disease. In July this year, the group will issue detailed information on dividends at the shareholders' meeting.

Comparable store sales increased by 6.5% over the same period last year.

In fiscal year 2019, Inditex launched a very aggressive store optimization initiative: 307 new stores opened, 328 stores closed, and 182 stores redecorated (87 expanded areas). As of January 31, 2020, the total number of Inditex stores in the world was 7469 (7490 in the same period last year), and the retail space construction area in the golden section business area increased by 2.5% to 5 million 90 thousand square meters year-on-year.