The UK and Ireland combined make up an important market for Inditex and it seems the business is set to get a new managing director after its longstanding MD stepped down.

Max Nutz — who’s been with the company for 25 years — will reportedly be succeeded by the Spanish fashion retail giant’s Austalia and New Zealand boss Pilar Losada as soon as this week.

That’s according to Retail Week, although the news hasn’t yet been confirmed.

Nutz joined Inditex in 1999 and took on the top job for the UK and Ireland in 2018. He steered it through the Covid crisis but also through more pleasing developments such as store expansion in the market and the UK being chosen as the first test country for Zara’s entry into resale.

Losada, meanwhile, has been with the group since 2010 and ran its China business before her move to the ANZ role.

She faces an intensely competitive market in the UK and Ireland with Next and M&S both on a roll, a resurgent Mango expanding its store numbers and recent reports suggesting the online fashion market is back in growth mode. That would benefit Inditex but also the large number of pureplay fashion e-tailers competing with it.