MADRID, March 16 Reuters Asia was an outlier for Zara owner Inditex last year, the only region where profits fell as China faced COVID19 lockdowns, while profit ballooned in the Americas, the fashion retailer39;s annual report showed on Thursday.

Inditex, the world39;s biggest fashion retailer, reported record annual sales on Wednesday. It has been expanding in the United States and downsizing in China, which in 2019 was its secondbiggest single market after Spain, delivering 8 of the group39;s pretax profit.

Inditex39;s Asia and rest of world region, which includes Australia, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea, saw profit fall by 4.3 in its 2022 financial year, which started on Feb. 1 last year, while profit in the Americas jumped 77.

China was very challenging last year due to rolling COVID19 lockdowns, CEO Oscar Maceiras told analysts on Wednesday, adding that he remains confident about opportunities there longerterm.

Fashion demand, fashion appetite continues to be strong there, and it will remain a core market for Inditex, Maceiras said.

The company made a pretax profit of 105 million euros 111.31 million in China in its 2022 financial year, which ended on Jan. 31 2023, down 47 from the previous year. China39;s share of the total pretax profit fell to 2 from 4.7 the previous year.

The United States, which in 2018 contributed just 1.1 of Inditex39;s pretax profit, accounted for 7.9 of pretax profit in 2022. The Americas as a whole brought in 1.1 billion…