Zara posts €2.4bn profit

Zara owner Inditex tapped fashion-hungry consumers in new markets in 2012 to grow net profit by
22% even as austerity-hit shoppers in Europe tightened belts.

The world's largest clothing retailer, which runs eight brands, posted net profit of €2.4bn (£2.1bn), opening new stores in 64 markets.

It entered markets like Georgia, Bosnia and Ecuador for the first time.

By the end of January, Inditex had more than 6,000 stores across 86 countries and said it expected to launch flagship brand Zara online in Russia over the autumn-winter season.

Inditex, which has seen its shares triple in value in the past five years and outperform European peers by more than a third over the last 12 months, said on Wednesday it would propose hiking its dividend by 22% to €2.20 per share.

Sales rose 16% to €15.9bn.