Zara owner Inditex profits up on international drive

Spain's fashion retail giant Inditex, owner of popular brand Zara, said Wednesday that its drive to expand internationally helped push up profits last year.

Inditex, one of the world's largest fashion retailers, said in a statement that its bottom-line profit rose by 10 percent to 3.16 billion euros ($3.4 billion) last year.

Inditex -- whose brands include Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka and Oysho -- therefore beat Swedish rival H&M which booked net profit of around two billion euros in 2016.