In Brief: New car sales; Avon; Hewlett-Packard; H&M; Industrial output

According to car market monitoring company Samar, car sales in January and February 2003 may increase by 13%-14% year-on-year, with approximately 25,000-26,000 new cars expected to leave the showroom. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) ... The revenues from sales posted by Avon Cosmetics Polska for 2002 a mounted to zl. 672.6 million. Its net profit increased by 11.3% and em ployment rose by over 100. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) ... Hewlett-Packard Polska has opened a new division called System Laboratory. The new firm will help introduce new products and technologies in addition to testing so lutions proposed by customers. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) ... At the end of March, Swedish clothes shop Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) intends to open its first shop in Poland. Part of H&M's collection will be sold in Warsaw's Wola Park mall. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) ... Poland's industrial output, unadjusted for seasonal factors, rose 4.2% year-on-year in January but was 5.9% lower than the previous month, the Central Statistical Office said yesterday. The annual figure came just below the average in a Reuters consensus poll, in which analysts had expected last month's industrial production output to have risen by 4.3% year-on-year. (Reuters) A.Z.