Zara owner Inditex has ceased operations in Russia

Zara, the world’s leading clothing apparel owner, announced on Saturday that Spanish clothing giant Inditex was “temporarily suspending its operations” in 502 stores in Russia as well as the group’s online shopping sites in the country.

Also read: Airbnb suspends operations in Russia and Belarus

Also read: Oil: Brent closed at $ 118.11 a barrel, a record since 2008

Also read: Bombardier severed ties with Russia

“Under the current circumstances, Inditex does not guarantee the continuation of operations and business conditions in the Russian Federation,” the group said in a press release, stating that Russia represents about 8.5% of its operating profit.

“Inditex ‘priority is to have a staff of more than 9,000, for whom (the group) is now developing a special support plan,” the statement added.

The text says that 86 of these 502 stores are Zara stores.

Inditex (abbreviation of Industria de Disno Textile) is today the first group in the world of neck and neck fashion with H Swedish H&M.

Eight brands are grouped into the ready-to-wear group: Zara (about 70% of sales), Zara Home, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Pull & Bear, Massimo Duty and UterQ. Some were started by the group founder Amancio Ortega, while others were purchased over the years.

The group, which is based on five continents, has accelerated its reorganization process since the COVID-19 crisis, including the closure of smaller stores to focus on the huge shops on the most prestigious arteries in the big cities. It will have 6,500 stores by 2021.

In 2019, before the epidemic temporarily cut its results, it had a turnover of 28 billion euros and a profit of 3.6 billion.