Global clothing giant Inditex, which owns Zara, posted on Wednesday a surge in its first-quarter profits despite closing its stores in Russia over the country invading Ukraine.

The world’s biggest fashion retailer said its net profit increased by 80 per cent in the first three months of its financial year to April 31, compared to the same period last year. It said it made €760 million in profit, against €440 million during the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, which was heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The first quarter of the 2021 financial year… was heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic

The fashion group, which owns eight brands, including upmarket Massimo Dutti and teen label Stradivarius, warned earlier this year that 2022 sales would be impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After Russia sent in troops in late February, Inditex closed all its stores in Ukraine and on March 5 suspended all retail activity in Russia, its biggest market after Spain, shutting its 502 shops and suspending all online transactions. 

Inditex has said the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus had “significantly” affected commercial activity in the last quarter of 2021, causing “a sudden fall in retail traffic at its shops” in many countries. When the pandemic first took hold two years ago, the group saw its profits nosedive as the virus forced it to shutter most of its shops in the first half of 2020.