Castro: Israel's Fashion House Since 1950

TASE: CAST · Fashion retail · Founded 1950 · Israel's longest running fashion house

Castro (קסטרו, TASE: CAST) is Israel's oldest continuously operating fashion retailer, opened in 1950 as a dress shop on Allenby Road in Tel Aviv by Aharon Castro. The company posted NIS 2.12 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2025 (Simply Wall St, based on Castro's full year results) and runs roughly 170 to 180 stores across Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Thailand.

How did Castro start on Allenby Road?

Aharon Castro opened his first shop on Allenby Road in 1950. His mother, Anina Castro (also called Nina), a dressmaker who had run a design salon from the family apartment, joined as the company's first designer. Israel's fashion market in the 1950s and 1960s was effectively closed to imports under high tariffs, and Castro was one of the country's few ready-to-wear manufacturers during that period.

Aharon Castro took over design direction in the 1960s and pushed the line toward youth fashion: bold colors and batik fabrics. By the 1970s, Castro was a major supplier to Israel's department store chains, Shekem and Hamashbir. Its first direct retail outlet, the Rio factory store in Tel Aviv, opened in 1965 under the direction of Aharon's wife, Lina Castro.

Castro at a glance

What brands does Castro operate today?

Castro sells three core apparel lines under its own name: Red for casual fashion, Black for tailored and formal wear, and Blue for denim. Alongside the main brand, Castro runs Castro Men (launched 2000), Castro Kids (launched 2013), and the casual and streetwear labels Hoodies, Top Ten and Urbanica.

Eyewear comes from Carolina Lemke, and accessories from DIVA, a joint venture with UK based DCK Concessions. Through its subsidiary A.R. Botanical Cosmetics, Castro also holds the exclusive Israeli distribution rights for Yves Rocher and KIKO Milano. International expansion began in 2003 with stores in Germany, and Castro now also operates in Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Thailand (Alpha Spread, September 2025).

How is Castro performing financially?

Castro's full year 2025 results show revenue of NIS 2.12 billion, up 1.9% from FY2024, but profitability fell sharply (Simply Wall St). Net income dropped 59% to NIS 55.1 million, earnings per share fell to NIS 6.50 from NIS 16.39 a year earlier, and the profit margin compressed to 2.6% from 6.5%, a decline the company attributed to higher expenses.

The stock has followed that margin pressure lower: shares traded near NIS 107 to 117 in the weeks before the FY2025 report, down roughly 23 to 37% over the prior 90 days, putting the stock at a trailing price to earnings ratio of about 8.6x against a specialty retail sector average near 14x (Simply Wall St). Castro reported a trailing twelve month market capitalization of roughly $400 million as of May 2026 (PitchBook).

Who owns Castro?

Castro went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1992, and the founding families have kept control since. Rotter Holdings Ltd is the company's controlling parent (Disfold), and the Castro and Rotter families together hold approximately 75% of outstanding shares (ZoomInfo, July 2026). Aharon Castro remains chairman, while Gabriel Rotter and Esther Rotter serve as co-CEOs and directors.

How does Castro compare to Fox Group, its biggest rival?

Fox Group is the more aggressive competitor of the two, and it has overtaken Castro on scale: Fox runs more than 600 locations across a dozen countries and employs about 6,800 people (Wikipedia), against Castro's roughly 170 to 180 stores. Castro built its response around brand heritage and diversification rather than store count, leaning on the Yves Rocher and KIKO Milano distribution deals, the Carolina Lemke eyewear line, and its status as Israel's original ready-to-wear fashion house.

Both companies emerged from the same protected, high-tariff Israeli retail environment of the mid-20th century, and both had to adapt when Israel liberalized clothing imports in the late 1990s and let Zara, Gap, H&M and Mango into the market. Fox pursued franchising and a broader brand portfolio; Castro leaned into licensed international brands in cosmetics and eyewear alongside its own apparel lines.

Watch points

• Margin compression: the FY2025 profit margin fell to 2.6% from 6.5% a year earlier on higher expenses, even as revenue grew (Simply Wall St).
• Scale gap with Fox Group: Fox's 600-plus stores and larger workforce give it franchise and buying-power advantages Castro cannot match through organic store growth alone.
• Family control: with the Castro and Rotter families holding about 75% of shares, governance and succession decisions sit largely outside public shareholder influence.
• Distribution dependence: a meaningful share of Castro's non-apparel revenue rests on exclusive distribution rights (Yves Rocher, KIKO Milano) that are contractual and can be renegotiated or lost.

FAQ

What is Castro?

Castro is Israel's oldest continuously operating fashion retailer, founded in 1950 on Allenby Road in Tel Aviv. It designs and sells apparel, cosmetics and accessories through roughly 170 to 180 stores in Israel and six other countries, and trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker CAST.

Who owns Castro?

Castro is controlled by Rotter Holdings Ltd, with the Castro and Rotter families holding about 75% of shares (ZoomInfo, July 2026). Aharon Castro is chairman; Gabriel Rotter and Esther Rotter are co-CEOs.

How many stores does Castro have?

Castro operated 170 stores across Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Thailand as of its September 30, 2025 financial report (Alpha Spread).

Is Castro publicly traded?

Yes. Castro listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1992 under the ticker CAST and reported NIS 2.12 billion in FY2025 revenue (Simply Wall St).

How does Castro compare to Fox Group?

Fox Group has overtaken Castro in scale, running more than 600 stores and roughly 6,800 employees against Castro's 170 to 180 stores (Wikipedia). Castro has responded by diversifying into cosmetics and eyewear distribution rather than competing on store count alone.

This profile is part of the Olam Founders & Companies reference layer, the canonical entity index for Israeli executives and the companies they control.

The Olam Editorial Team