Inditex Surpasses Mercadona in Sales

You would think that with Inditex, mother company of fashion brands such as Bershka, Zara and Stradivarius, selling its wares in shops all over the globe – 88 countries, to be precise – that it would outdo Valencia-based supermarket Mercadona, which only operates in Spain, in sales by millions of euro each year.

But, in actual fact, the reverse situation has actually been the case, up until now, that is. Mercadona had previously outdone the textiles giant in revenue year after year.

However, finally the tables have turned and Amancio Ortega, Inditex boss, has now got one over on Juan Roig after announcing a turnover of 20.900 million euro in 2015 against the 19,059 million euro generated by the food company.

For Ortega, this means a net profit of 2.9 billion euro, 15% more than the year before, an increase in share prices of 15.4% from 2014, and a record year. It also appears that 2016 is going to be a profitable year for the clothes magnate as sales between 1 February and 7 March are already up 15% on last year.

On the other hand, the supermarket chain headed by Juan Roig improved his supermarket’s sales by just 3.5% last year, which hasn’t been enough to keep his business at the top. Despite this, Mercadona still manages to capture 23% of the total market share, a mean feat in a very intensive sector with a lot of competition.

Nevertheless, despite the battle going on between two of Spain’s most successful businessmen, both of their companies feature in the top 50 largest companies in the world. In 2014 Mercadona occupied 44^th position and Inditex was just behind in 45^th.

And while these two thriving companies are right up there along with the likes of Amazon and Apple, they are still not the leading firms in Spain. A slight way ahead of both Mercadona and Inditex is Repsol, with Endesa, Iberdrola and Telefónica, all snapping at the heels of the top three.

Source: www.elconfidencial.com, www.elpais.com