* Net profit up 9 pct at 2.2 bln euros in Feb-Oct period
* Sales up 14.5 pct in local currencies over period
* Slower-moving rivals expected to be hit by warmer autumn
* Shares down 1.9 pct by 1010 GMT on gross margin miss (Adds details from conference call, analyst's comment, shareprice reaction)
By Angus Berwick
MADRID, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Inditex, the world'sbiggest clothing retailer and owner of Zara, used its "fastfashion" model to adapt to warmer than usual autumn weather,speeding up its sales growth in recent weeks and staying aheadof slower-moving rivals.
Unlike the Spanish firm, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap posted dismal fourth-quarter sales last month.
Inditex reacts to changing fashion trends and weather bykeeping its manufacturing bases close to its distribution centrein Galicia, northern Spain. Items are designed, made and shippedto stores often in less than a month, boosting profitability.
Net profit for the nine months to the end of October was up9 percent from the year before at 2.2 billion euros ($2.3billion), in line with analysts' forecasts, as garments such asvelvet dresses, military blazers and mini skirts helped pushInditex sales up by 14.5 percent in local currency terms.
With more than 7,200 stores in 93 markets, Inditex hasshifted from multiple new store openings to setting up largeflagship stores in key locations and tying in its onlinebusiness instead.
Apart from Zara, which makes up two thirds of sales, itsbrands include younger fashion chain Pull&Bear and upmarketlabel Massimo Dutti.
Other retailers have been trying to speed up their supplychain to match Inditex but are held back by their sourcing fromAsia, stretching lead times. They have also started investing innew higher-margin brands.
But Inditex has matched them and has scope to expandfurther. Analysts at Macquarie say it has only a 2 percent shareof a "highly fragmented" global market and they expect it togrow quickly in emerging markets and the United States.
ACCELERATING SALES
Between November and mid-December, Inditex's sales growthaccelerated to 16 percent from a year before, implying growth of10.5 percent once the effect of new store openings is strippedout, Bernstein analysts said.
"The reason for our strong like-for-like sales growth ...has to do with the global execution of our business model, thefully integrated approach between stores and online," ChairmanPablo Isla told analysts.
The like-for-like sales growth compares with its nextbiggest rival H&M's reported 10 percent year-on-yearincrease in local-currency sales in October. H&M is due topublish November sales on Thursday.
Analysts expect H&M and others to have been hit by thewarmer autumn weather as they failed to swap out collections ofcold-weather items to attract shoppers.
Inditex shares were down 1.9 percent by 1010GMT, against a0.5 percent fall on the European STOXX 600 index. Theyhave risen 2.5 percent over the past year, against a near 9percent fall in H&M's shares.
Analysts contributed Inditex's share price dip to a slightmiss of forecasts for their gross margin - the profit obtainedafter selling a product - and said they needed to improveearnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to rise higher.
"Currency translation was very negative in the first halfbut in the second half it will have much less of an impact.That's why EBIT growth should continue to recover which shouldhelp the shares make progress," SocGen analyst Anne Critchlowsaid.
Critchlow said third-quarter EBIT was up 11 percentyear-on-year to 1.2 billion euros, 0.4 percent below consensus.EBIT was in the single digits for the previous three quarters.
($1 = 0.9395 euros) (Additional reporting by Robert Hetz; Editing by Greg Mahlichand Alexander Smith)
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