Good for Business, Lithuania, Markets and Companies, Textile

In December alone, the chain’s sales increased by an annual 10.3% to 18.8 mln. euros, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

This year, the retailer expects its sales to grow by 7.6% to 214 mln. euros.

Saulius Bacauskas, Apranga CFO, describes these projections as conservative and says that sales may grow at an even faster pace if the economic growth matches forecasts.

“We’ve been growing by roughly 8.5% for two consecutive years and this time we forecast a slightly smaller increase, which is more conservative, considering the geopolitical situation. In fact, if the economic growth matches forecasts by bank analysts, by the government, consumption will also grow at a respective pace and these figures [sales growth] may be better,” he told BNS.

The retailer’s sales last year rose by 8.9% to 120.8 mln. euros in Lithuania, by 2.5% to 48.5 mln. euros in Latvia and by 17.3% to 29.6 mln. euros in Estonia.

The growth of sales had been driven by store expansion, Bacauskas said.

“We are expanding at a faster pace in Estonia. In Latvia, for example, the growth pace is relatively more moderate. We had a slightly smaller market share in Estonia hence that growth pace is faster,” he explained.

In 2015, Apranga opened 16 new stores, refurbished nine stores and shut down eight stores. The group currently operates a chain of 169 stores in the Baltic countries.

Apranga is quoted on the blue-chip Main List of the NASDAQ Vilnius Stock Exchange.