The Spanish “prêt-à-porter” giant Inditex, Zara’s parent company, began a new chapter in its history this Friday with the arrival at the helm of Marta Ortega, who will from now on lead the empire founded by her father in a key moment for your future.
Neither a public ceremony nor a press conference: the daughter of the billionaire Amancio Ortega — 38 years old and often described as discreet and reserved — took the reins of the world leader in textiles without showing off outside doors, just as she wanted. .
His appointment “became effective today,” an Inditex spokesman briefly confirmed to AFP, about a transition that is being carried out “calmly” in this group that has 6,500 stores and 174,000 employees.
The youngest of Ortega’s three children, in charge until now of supervising the design and launch of products for the eight Inditex brands, thus succeeds Pablo Isla, who chaired the group since the retirement of Amancio Ortega in 2011.
Former right-hand man of the founder, and architect of Inditex’s international expansion, Isla, 58, has not revealed his plans as of now, although he is not yet thinking about retirement. “I am not going to retire”, he has assured him.
Years ago, Marta Ortega was seen as the likely successor to her father. Her appointment, however, was only announced in the fall, within a reorganization orchestrated by Amancio Ortega himself.
“We have been preparing for this transition for some time,” Isla explained in November. “Marta has been working in the company for fifteen years (…) she is a person who knows the company very well,” she stressed.
‘Well Surrounded’
Born on January 10, 1984 from the union of Amancio Ortega and his second wife Flora Pérez, Marta Ortega, with a slender figure and blonde hair, grew up in La Coruña, a Galician city located in the extreme north-west of Spain, together with her half-siblings. Sandra and Mark.
After studying at a Catholic school in Galicia and at a prestigious private high school in Switzerland, she graduated in 2007 from the European Business School in London, the city where she would take her first steps, incognito, in the family group, as a saleswoman in a store Zara.
But, according to the newspaper El País, her co-workers, surprised to see her wearing a Rolex watch, ended up discovering who she was.
It is still unknown what his first orientations will be at the head of the global fashion giant. His appointment in the fall caused concern in some financial sectors and caused a drop in Inditex’s stock price. But initial fears seem to have faded.
Marta Ortega, who has never held an executive position at Inditex, “has been very well prepared” and “is well surrounded,” says Alfred Vernis, professor at the Esade business school and former executive of the textile group.
The daughter of Amancio Ortega will occupy the presidency of the group and not its general management, which will include Óscar García Maceiras, from Banco Santander. “He will be the one who will have to make the executive decisions,” says Vernis.
delicate moment
Despite this, the arrival of the heiress occurs at a key moment for the Galician company, with record profits in recent years but now facing one of the most complex moments in its history.
The world leader in mass fashion, valued at 62,000 million euros (about 68,560 million dollars), almost tripled its profits last year, reaching 3,240 million euros. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has darkened prospects for 2022.
The Spanish giant announced in early March the suspension of activities in its 502 stores in Russia, one of its main world markets after Spain, which should weigh on its results.
“This exercise appears very complex, taking into account Inditex’s exposure to Russia and the rest of Europe”, in addition to the “increase in production costs” generated by record inflation, Crédit Suisse underlines in a note.
The group founded in 1985 by Amancio Ortega, the son of a railway worker who ended up becoming the richest man in Spain, must also strengthen its activity on the Internet in the face of intense competition from online sales companies.
And, above all, it has to concentrate on accelerating its “green shift” to reduce its environmental impact, which is currently very high. Pablo “Isla was doing it, but not enough,” says Alfred Vernis, who warns that this essential change “will have a cost” for the company.
