Inditex, the owner of the Zara chain, has reported strong sales growth for the first five weeks of the new financial year. But it plans to slow down its rapid pace of store openings.

Inditex will focus store openings on flagship sites in prime locations. It will aim for 6 to 8 per cent growth in new sales space in the coming years, below the previous guidance of 8 to 10 per cent.

Sales of items such as broderie anglaise blouses and floral lace dresses from fashion label Zara’s spring collection helped push sales across Inditex’s stable of brands up 15 per cent, at constant exchange rates, in the first five weeks of the financial year that started in February.

Inditex, the world's biggest clothing retailer, opened 330 stores in 56 markets in 2015, with a new Zara shop in Hawaii becoming the group's 7000th store worldwide. Its brands include upmarket label Massimo Dutti and teen fashion chain Bershka. It expanded online sales to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Australia during the year and may complete its online presence in all European Union markets in April.

Inditex’s net profit came in at 2.88 billion euros for the financial year which stretches from February to January, boosted by the relative weakness of the euro against a basket of around 60 currencies.

https://www.inditex.com/