Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021 due to the upturn in activity, but remains far from prepandemia levels - Inditex, owner of brands such as Zara or Massimo Dutti, made a net profit of 421 million euros in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2021, between February and April, which means leaving behind the historical losses of 409 million euros recorded a year earlier due to the impact of the pandemic.

However, this figure is still far from the levels prior to COVID-19, when it reached 736 million euros. In fact, it would be necessary to look back at the start of 2012 to find a similar level (432 million euros between February and April of that year).

As for the group's sales, these rebounded by 49.6%, to 4,942 million euros, according to the accounts submitted by the company to the CNMV. This figure is returning to levels 5 years ago, when the company scored 4,879 in the first quarter.

Pablo Isla, executive president of Inditex, during a subsequent meeting with analysts, stressed that these results are the most evident proof of the "progressive and strong recovery" of the group. Also, the manager stressed that the sale between May and the first week of June has been 5% higher than the same period of 2019.

Even better is the good performance that continues to reveal the online channel, which grew by 67% at a constant exchange rate, in line with the growth of 77% recorded during the year of the pandemic, when it contributed 6,612 million euros. Investments in the period 2020-22 will be about 900 million euros per year. The plan includes a digital investment of 1,000 million euros over these 3 years.

Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021

Already in the results of a year ago, the group drew up a plan until 2022 by which it would allocate 2,700 million euros to technological investment and the renovation of the commercial space. The goal was to achieve by that date that internet sales represented 25% of turnover, but the forecast failed: the last annual year revealed that e-commerce already accounted for 32%.

Inditex's figures are above the forecasts of the consensus of analysts consulted by Bloomberg, who estimated a profit of 358.5 million euros. On the other hand, sales were around 4,880 million euros between February and April. This meant a growth of 47% compared to sales for the same period last year, but still 17% below what was generated at the start of 2019.

Gross operating income (ebitda) stands at 1,235 million euros, representing a considerable year-on-year upturn of 155%.

Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021: The board of directors of Inditex will propose to the general meeting of shareholders, which will be held on July 13, the approval of a dividend of 0.70 euros per share against the results of the 2020 financial year. Likewise, Ramón Reñón, deputy director general to the president, has communicated the resignation of his position.

The gross margin (measures gross profit per item sold) was 59.9% compared to 58.4% a year earlier and stands at 2,962 million euros. In this sense, Isla has emphasized the" key role " that integrated inventory management (SINT and RFID technology) had played in achieving these results and in gross margin.

Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021

Isla has reiterated that these technologies offer " better customer service and allow a full price sale with almost zero promotions and an inventory position that grows below the evolution of sales.

Finally, operating expenses grew by 19% and the strong cash generation placed the net financial position of the titan de la moda at 7,176 million euros at the end of the period, representing a growth of 25%.

In the first quarter, 24% of business hours were unavailable due to restrictions caused by the pandemic. Currently 98% of stores are open and openings have been made in 21 markets. However, in-store and online sales at constant exchange rates fell 11.5% year-on-year compared to 2019.

Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021: Despite everything, Isla has pointed out that” traffic in stores has been accelerating week by week “and that all this”is the result of the quality of work of the commercial teams, online and the entire company as a whole".

The group announced a year ago the plan to absorb between 1,000 and 1,200 smaller profile stores in the world and between 250 and 300 in Spain. In these last results they detailed that the integration of the business model has allowed to fully recover the sale in store and online in May.

The operation is about to end, in fact as detailed in a statement by the trade union Comisiones Obreras, the Galician textile giant will undertake in Spain 56 store closures in the summer that will affect 475 employees who will be relocated to other establishments. Thus, as of April 30, Inditex operates a total of 6,758 stores, which is 654 less than a year ago.

Inditex earns 421 million euros February April 2021

More news:

El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender

Despite the sharp falls that its price has accumulated in recent weeks and the uncertainty regarding whether its fluctuations end up leading to an asset bubble, bitcoin has just reached an unprecedented level of state recognition for any cryptocurrency, although for the moment only in one of the most precarious economies of the American continent.

In this way, The Savior, has become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender after the parliament of the central american country has been approved by a large majority of 62 votes compared to 22 in against the draft of the so-called Law Bitcoin, which was announced this weekend by its president, Nayib Bukele.

This bill must now complete its parliamentary route before being finally approved, according to CNBC, which highlights that from the entry into force of this law the bitcoin and the US dollar will be the legal tender coins of the small Central American nation, which has a population similar to that of the Community of Madrid and with a slightly smaller surface than that of the Valencian Community.

However, it is still not known details about how to apply this measure is unprecedented, beyond the content of the government project, explaining that the regulation of bitcoin as a legal currency will be "unrestricted with tender, unlimited in any transaction and any title which the natural or juridical persons, public or private, require you to perform," according to the legal provisions of the standard shared by Bukele on his Twitter account.

In addition, the regulations state that the exchange rate between the us dollar and bitcoin will be established by a free market, that price may be expressed in this criptomoneda and all economic agents shall accept it as a form of payment, trade in bitcoins will not be subject to tax on capital gains as any currency and the us dollar will continue to be the reference currency for accounting purposes.

The draft gives a period of 90 days for the Salvadoran central bank and the financial regulator to develop the regulations to formalize the use of bitcoin as a legal currency, while the public administrations commit to offer "alternatives that allow the user to carry out transactions in bitcoin, as well as. Have automatic and instant convertibility of bitcoin and dollar in case you want it, " as stated in the standard.

The Salvadoran president explained last weekend that he seeks to create thousands of jobs with this measure and promote financial inclusion among his population, given that he has assured that 70% of Salvadorans do not have a bank account and work in the underground economy. For this, Bukele plans to rely on Strike, a digital platform that already works as a bridge between traditional banking and bitcoin users, to have the necessary infrastructure for its current use.

In this way, El Salvador is entrusted to bitcoin to grow its economy and modernize its financial system, at a time when the price of the cryptocurrency against the dollar has lost almost half the value it held in April, when it reached historic highs at 64,829 dollars, although compared to 12 months ago, its price has grown 230%, according to CNBC.