Madrid — Inditex, the world’s biggest clothes retailer and owner of Zara, reported a slowdown in sales growth in its third quarter as Europe’s warm autumn kept shoppers away, though it pointed to a brighter end of the year. Fashion retailers such as Next and John Lewis have already reported a hit from warmer-than-usual weather as shoppers ignored new winter ranges. Inditex’s biggest rival, Sweden’s H&M, will report fourth-quarter sales on Friday. Inditex said on Wednesday that sales between August and October rose 6% year on year to €6.3bn, in line with analysts’ forecasts, while net profit rose 2.7% to €975m. The sales growth was down from 9.2% in the previous quarter and 11.6% a year ago. "The top line is showing a big deceleration versus previous quarters," analysts from Kepler Cheuvreux wrote in a note. Most of the lower growth is already priced in to the shares, they added. Inditex shares have fallen about 2% this year, against a decline of more than 20% for H&M. However, colde...
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