MADRID (AP) — Spanish clothes retailer Inditex, which owns the Zara stores, says strong sales boosted net profit for its fiscal first nine months of 2016 by 9 percent.

Inditex said profit for the February-October period was 2.2 billion euros ($2.33 billion), compared with 2 billion euros for the period last year.

Sales were up 11 percent at 16.4 million euros, compared with 14.7 billion euros for the nine-month period in 2015.

Inditex says its strong performance allowed it to create 9,245 jobs over the past year. In the nine-month period, it opened 227 new stores, for a total of 7,240 outlets.

Founded in 1975, Inditex operates eight store brands including Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Oysho.

Inditex's shares were down 0.2 percent at 32.9 euros in Wednesday morning trading in Madrid.