Zara owner Inditex reports strong start of holiday shopping season

MADRID (Reuters) - Zara owner Inditex reported strong trading over the start of the holiday season, with revenues 9% in the six weeks to Dec. 9 as the world's biggest fast-fashion retailer kept drawing in shoppers even as rivals struggled.

Revenue growth in the period which includes the key Black Friday sales was slower than a year ago but was faster than during the first nine months.

The fashion giant reported February-to-October sales that rose 7% to 27.4 billion euros ($28.84 billion) from a year earlier, missing the consensus estimate for 8% sales growth.

($1 = 0.9500 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons in Madrid and Helen Reid in London; editing by Charlie Devereux and Inti Landauro)