Zara staff to share £500m bonus pot

AROUND 88,000 staff at Zara owner Inditex are to share about £500m in bonuses and commission after the fashion giant posted a 7pc increase in company profits.

It includes an extra payout under its profit-sharing plan, which will be made to all staff working at the group for more than two years.

It comes as Inditex, the world’s largest clothing retailer, posted net profits of £3bn for 2017, up from £2.8bn in 2016.

But it revealed its slowest global like-for-like sales growth for three years, at 5pc, down from 10pc in 2016 with the chain hit by a tough year.

But the bright spot for the group, which also owns Massimo Dutti and Pull & Bear among a raft of brands, was its online sales performance, up 41pc over the year and now accounting for 10pc of group revenues.

This came as it boosted its online delivery offering, adding a next-day service in the UK and several other countries.