Inditex, the Spanish fashion group that owns Zara, reported a record net profit of €2.98 billion for the first half of 2026, up 6.8% from a year earlier. Despite the milestone, the company's shares fell 3.61% on Spain's Ibex 35 index, trading around €54.30.
On the Spanish radio programme La Linterna, presenter Ángel Expósito discussed the market reaction with economic analyst and Mediodía COPE director Pilar García de la Granja. She said the results were spectacular but belonged to the past, representing only what the company had earned in the first six months of the year, and noted that investors were instead focused on what comes next.
Investor concerns over geopolitical instability
García de la Granja said markets were watching expectations for the coming quarters. She said the prevailing expectation was for greater geopolitical upheaval and instability, which was what was causing investors to hesitate, questioning whether Inditex could sustain its pace of growth amid global uncertainty.
She also pointed to the company's constant challenge of maintaining its position, saying it was well known how hard it was to reach the top, harder still to stay there, and harder yet to recover lost ground. That philosophy of steady, cautious management, she noted, echoes the investment principles long associated with Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, who has consistently avoided rushed financial decisions.
Margin pressure and a slowdown in Asia
The share price drop was partly explained by second-quarter operating figures that fell short of analyst consensus. Half-year sales reached €19.755 billion, up 7.6%, but operating profit (EBIT) came in at €3.843 billion, some 1.94% below market expectations.
Rising operating costs also weighed on results, driven by disruption to logistics routes linked to the transport crisis in the Middle East, which eroded quarterly EBITDA to €2.945 billion. At the same time, business slowed sharply in Asia and the rest of the world, where revenue grew just 0.9%, compared with an 8.9% rise in Europe.
This pattern fits with the group's broader global strategy in recent years of reorganising its store network to favour larger, more technologically advanced outlets, a continuation of the adaptability that has long defined Zara's approach to fast-changing consumer behaviour.
Financial strength and outlook
Despite the stock market correction, analysts at Bankinter, RBC and Deutsche Bank said the group's underlying fundamentals remained intact. Cash generation was strong, with free cash flow more than doubling to €2.299 billion, pushing net cash up 4% to €10.398 billion.
The start of the autumn-winter season also pointed to resilient consumer demand, with in-store and online sales rising 9% between August 1 and September 7. Inditex confirmed it will pay shareholders a dividend of €0.875 per share on November 2, 2026.
