Zara’s net profit soared by 193% in the year to January 2022, reaching €3.2 billion as sales almost recovered from the hit taken during the pandemic.
The fashion forward retailer that has more-than-6,600 stores globally was able to operate from the middle of 2021 which ultimately helped in attaining a 36% year-on-year growth to €27.7 billion.
The Omicron variant in Q4 had a negative impact and restrictions in countries such as Germany and Japan meant it took a €400 million hit.
Gross profit increased 39% to €15.8 billion and the gross margin reached 57.1% (up 123 bps versus 2020), the highest in six years.
The company is likely to be affected by its decision to temporarily close all of its more-than-500 stores and website in Russia.
The US became Zara’s largest individual country market. In fact, America accounted for 17.5% of sales during the year compared to 13.5% in 2020.
Spain accounted for 14.4% of sales compared to 14.6% a year earlier. Europe excluding Spain was the biggest combined market overall, accounting for 48.4% of sales (down slightly from 48.7% in 2020).
Asia and the rest of the world accounted for 19.7% of sales last year compared to 23.2% a year earlier.
