The Spanish clothing chain Inditex, which owns the brands Zara and Bershka, has decided to permanently close 269 out of 514 stores in Russia. About this on Friday, March 17, reported newspaper El Pais.
According to its data, the company is still waiting for the completion of the deal to withdraw from the Russian market, which was announced in October last year. The amount of impairment of the value of investments in seven subsidiaries in the Russian Federation at the end of fiscal year 2022, according to Inditex calculations, amounted to €2.211 billion.
Inditex plans to transfer the rights and assets associated with 245 Russian stores to the Daher group. “After the completion of the sale and purchase agreement, the transferred premises will house sales points of brands belonging to the Daher group, which are completely unrelated to the Inditex group,” the company emphasized.
At the same time, Inditex, within the framework of the agreement, reserved the right to return to Russia if “new circumstances” arise that “would allow brands to return to the market” thanks to the franchise agreement. According to the managing director of the company, Oscar Garcia Maceiras, negotiations on leaving the Russian Federation are now at the final stage.
Inditex announced the suspension of all stores in Russia in March last year. In October it became known that the Russian network buys Daher Group.
The Inditex network has about 7 thousand stores in 100 countries. The most popular brands of the company are Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti and Oysho.
