Zara’s Irish profits up 33%

Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of high street brand, Zara, last year increased by 33% to €4.79m.

This followed revenues at Za Clothing Ireland Ltd jumping by 10% from €56.76m to €62.47m in the 12 months to the end of January 2015. Zara operates a number of stores in Dublin along with stores in Cork, Limerick and Galway.

According to the directors’ report “the directors plan to open further stores as soon as opportunities arise”.

Numbers employed by Za Clothing Ltd last year increased by one to 316 with employment costs going up from €9.57m to €9.9m.

The company’s cash last year increased sharply from €14.28m to €21.28m. All of the firm’s revenues are generated in Ireland and the profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.7m. The firm’s operating lease rentals increased from €6.36m to €7.52m.

The Irish firm last year did not pay any dividends to its Spanish parent after paying a dividend of €3.3m in 2013. Pull and Bear Ltd is a sister firm and is also owned by the Spanish-based Inditex. Accounts for it show that pre-tax losses last year rose 43% from €596,000 to €852,000.

This followed revenues at the company decreasing by 10% from €5.58m to €5.08m. In spite of this, the directors state that they plan to open further stores as soon as suitable opportunities arise.

The accounts disclose that the firm received a capital contribution of €500,000 from its immediate parent, Pull & Bear Espana in May.