If an investor put 1,000 euros into Inditex shares and sold in May, a sale this Thursday would have recovered the initial 1,000 euros and yielded a gain of 230.23 percent on the original investment. The value of the Galician multinational’s stock has risen by 90 days, reaching an 87 percent revaluation, placing it back into territory seen before the Ukraine war began.
The stock bottomed when it closed at 19.71 euros on May 10. That was the lowest level since July 2013, a figure not seen even at the pandemic’s worst moment two years earlier. At that trough, the company’s market capitalization stood at about 61.4 billion euros. By May 23, 2021, the textile group marked its 20th anniversary on the stock exchange with a market value around 100.4 billion euros. Two years later, the shares were almost 30 percent lower. Between these years, the company announced a strategic shift, faced rising raw material costs, and dealt with the uncertainty triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Across both countries, all Inditex brands operate a total of 606 stores. This accounts for 9.1 percent of the overall business volume. In Russia, 527 employees were impacted as operations were brought to a close soon after the conflict began. Since February 24, the start of the Ukraine invasion, the multinational’s market value has fallen from 62 billion euros to levels not seen since mid-2013. On a year-to-date basis, more than 20 billion euros have disappeared from the market capitalization.
In late April, the Ibex index saw a shift in leadership as Iberdrola rose to the top of the Spanish market. Iberdrola overtook Telefónica, which had held first place for 21 months, to become the most valuable Spanish company by market capitalization. On April 30, Pablo Isla marked his final day as group leader, and Iberdrola briefly sat at the head of the index with a capitalization around 61.6 billion euros, while the energy company closed the session just above 63.8 billion euros, edging down slightly. Inditex shares fell to 19.78 euros, the lowest since July 2013, and on May 10 they stood at 19.71 euros.
Over the last three months, Inditex stock has shown a steady rebound, climbing more than 20 percent in the last 90 days. By mid-July, the company had reclaimed a leading position in the Ibex index.
The group reported its first-quarter results under the Marta Ortega era on June 8: 760 million euros in net earnings, up 80 percent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 36 percent to 6.742 billion euros. A provision of 216 million euros was recorded to cover costs arising from the Ukraine and Russia situation, while cash reserves remained robust at about 10 billion euros, ensuring liquidity for ongoing operations.
The textile group also took several steps to boost the stock’s appeal. After increasing its dividend by 33 percent to 0.93 euros per share on March 16, it announced a total payout of 2.898 billion euros for the year. The ordinary dividend stands at 0.63 euros, with an extraordinary dividend of 0.30 euros. The payout schedule includes 0.465 euros on May 2 and another 0.465 euros on November 2. Additionally, the board approved an extraordinary dividend of 0.40 euros per share for 2022, to be added to the regular payout and distributed throughout 2023.
In the investment community, UBS recommended buying Inditex shares in mid-July, a stance echoed by Goldman Sachs. These incentives contributed to a 23 percent rise in the stock over the last 90 days. The shares closed above 24 euros after two consecutive sessions with gains, marking levels not seen since the first months of the war in Ukraine. The market value on the most recent close stood at around 75.6 billion euros, about 14.1 billion euros higher than on May 10.
Despite the recent gains, the stock remains roughly 17 percent below its level at the start of the year, with the year-to-date decline narrowing to about 11 percent since the presidential transition disclosed in late November. Compared with the end of last year, more than 13.3 billion euros of market value remains unfurnished. In March, compared with the beginning of the year, the figure was just over 27.6 billion euros, with about 15.0 billion of that amount concentrated in the two weeks following the onset of the Ukrainian crisis.
Overall, Inditex has shown resilience through a period of geopolitical tension and supply-chain pressures, leveraging strategic dividend actions and solid quarterly results to reassert investor confidence while maintaining a strong cash position and disciplined capital allocation.
Source attributions: market performance data and strategic actions are presented with attribution to financial market analyses and corporate disclosures. For further context, consult sector reports and official company statements as of today.