There are companies that make money selling clothes. And then there is Inditex, which also has a turnover of millions of euros building nursing homes for its own founder. Zara’s parent company earned an additional 49 million euros thanks to the orders that Amancio Ortega placed with Goa Invest, the group’s construction subsidiary, according to the annual report of the group deposited with the CNMV.
As and as highlighted Vozpopuliwhat is striking is not so much the amount of the figure as the path that this money takes in the financial framework of the company: it leaves Ortega’s pockets, enters the coffers of Inditex and, for the most part, returns exactly to the starting point in the form of dividends.
The numbers of the works. Inditex’s annual report reflects that the textile parent company charged 49 million euros to “Pontegadea Inversiones, Partler Participaciones, Partler 2006, or related entities or persons.” In other words, the charge was made to Amancio Ortega’s real estate holding company and other companies in his family business network for the concept of “provision of construction services.” This figure represents an increase of seven million more than what Ortega’s companies paid last year to Inditex, and 9 more than what they paid in 2023. In addition, Ortega paid another two million to Inditex for “other concepts.”
Despite being a real estate company, Pontegadea hates doing constructionso the bulk of that bill corresponds to the work that Goa Invest, a subsidiary construction company of Inditex, is carrying out to build and launch seven comprehensive care centers for older people in Galiciaa project promoted entirely by the Amancio Ortega Foundation. The seven centers are part of a commitment by the founder of Inditex to reduce unwanted loneliness and isolation among the elderly, of whom five have been delivered.
Amancio Ortega, Zara’s landlord. However, the amount paid to Inditex for these concepts has a very specific destination: pay rent. Inditex allocated those same 49 million euros (three million more than the previous year) to pay rent for the commercial premises where the stores of the group’s different brands are located, whose ownership is in the hands of Pontegadea Inversiones and Partler, the two companies that, between them, retain more than 59% of the capital of Inditex as representatives of Amancio Ortega.
To that sum should be added the million euros paid to Rosp Corunna, the property company of Sandra Ortega, eldest daughter of Amancio Ortega and owner of 5% of the group, also for the rental of premises to Inditex brands. However, if the analysis is extended to all the group’s accounts, it is found that those 49 million paid to Pontegadea is like a drop in an ocean, since they barely represent 4.5% of the total allocated to leases, which as a whole amounts to 1,085 million euros annual.
Residences for the elderly, a 90 million project. The construction project for senior centers started in 2019when the Xunta de Galicia and Flora Pérez Marcote, wife of Amancio Ortega and vice president of his foundation at that time, reached a collaboration agreement with an initial budget of 90 million euros, but the planned investment has been expanded to 180 million euros. The seven facilities will be distributed among the main Galician cities and, once in operation, they will be integrated into the Xunta’s public elderly care network.
At the same time, the Amancio Ortega Foundation promotes another initiative to combat loneliness among the elderly: the installation of Amazon speakers with Alexa and integrated artificial intelligence in residences and private homes. The program, named Network Voicesaccompanies 26,000 elderly people daily and had an initial budget of 15 million euros assumed entirely by the foundation.
A modest figure for Inditex. To understand the real magnitude of all these movements among the companies in the family business ecosystem around Amancio Ortega, it is convenient to place them against the results of the company as a whole. Inditex registered a historical net profit of 6,220 million euros in its last fiscal year, which represents an increase of 6% compared to the previous year and exceeds the barrier of 6,000 million euros for the first time.
Compared to that scale, the 49 million in rents that Pontegadea receives are, in relative terms, a modest figure within the financial machinery of the most powerful group in world fashion. Money changes pockets, yes, but without leaving the family perimeter.
In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives like a neighbor (except for private jets and superyachts)
Image | Wikimedia Commons (Nemigo), GTRES
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