GDANSK (Reuters) -LPP, Poland’s biggest fashion retailer, plans to open 200 to 250 new stores across all its brands in the third quarter and 400 to 450 Sinsay stores in the fourth quarter, CFO Marcin Bójko told a conference call on Thursday.
The group opened 296 stores in the second quarter, 253 of which were Sinsay stores.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT?
LPP, whose brands, which also include Reserved and others, are located mostly in central Europe, is pursuing a rapid European expansion focused on its budget brand Sinsay, which aims to compete with fast-fashion retailers like Inditex’s Bershka. It plans to increase retail space by 25-30% in 2025 as it targets Sinsay to account for 75% of group sales.
The company also plans to expand its store network to around 7,500 outlets by the end of 2027.
KEY QUOTES
“We have an intense third quarter ahead of us, with the largest accumulation of new stores expected at the end of the year,” Bójko said in a statement.
WHAT’S NEXT
The company said the positive momentum had continued into the third quarter. In the period from August 1 to September 21, it registered positive like-for-like sales, with online sales up 24% year-on-year and group sales up 22% in constant currencies.
CONTEXT
LPP confirmed its recently cut 2025/26 revenue forecast at 23 billion-24 billion zlotys from a projected 25 billion-26 billion, blaming exceptionally cold weather in May for hitting demand for its spring-summer collections.
BY THE NUMBERS
Second-quarter net profit edged up 5.4% to 467 million zlotys from a year earlier, with sales up 11% to 5.55 billion zlotys.
($1 = 3.6556 zlotys)
(Reporting by Marta Maciag, Alicja Surdy and Adrianna Ebert; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Leslie Adler)
