A bigger House

Clothes producer Artman, the owner of the House brand, has announced plans to launch a new clothing brand. "It will be similar to House, aimed at young people between 15-25 years old. However, it will not be competition for the House brand," Artman's financial director Grzegorz Koterwa said. The name of the brand, which will offer sporting apparel aimed for skiing, cycling or the beach, will be revealed in the fall.

The first outlets are to be opened next year. "We will open 10 stores next year and we will spend around zł.7 million on this," Koterwa said. He added that initially Artman will concentrate on Poland, but in the long-term will expand the brand abroad.

At the same time, the company is also looking at expand the House brand both in Poland and abroad. Currently there are 99 outlets in Poland and 48 abroad. The number of stores in Russia is to grow from 25 at the beginning of the year to 40 by the end of 2007. By the end of 2010 Artman wants to have between 350-400 House outlets in Poland and in the CEE countries.

In the first quarter of 2007, Artman posted revenues of zł.53.8 million, compared to zł.38.54 million in Q1 of 2006. Its net profit jumped from zł.170,000 in Q1 of last year to zł.290,000 in the first three months of 2007. The company predicts that this year it will make zł.11 million in profit, with revenues reaching zł.270 million. In 2006 the figures were zł.6.6 million and zł.205.4 million, respectively.