VILNIUS - Having just opened its first store in Estonia two weeks ago, Lithuania's Audimas stated this week that it planned to open three more stores in that country over the next three years.
The announcement by the Kaunas-based sports and leisurewear manufacturer is part of its long-term plan to increase its market share in the Baltic countries.
"We are striving to establish the Audimas trademark on the sportswear market in both Latvia and Estonia," Arvydas Povilaitis, head of company sales, was reported by the Biznes & Baltija paper as saying.
The company is hoping to post sales of 214,000 litas (61,000 euros) in Estonia this year and 819,000 litas in 2004, when a second store is expected to open.
According to Povilaits, Estonian wholesalers had been selling Audimas products for nearly five years before the company finally decided to open its own retail chain.
In Latvia, the company has two stores, the first of which opened a year ago. Director of Latvian operations Ilze Berzina told the Baltic News Service that the company forecasted 241,000 lats (360,000 euros) in sales in the first year of business, with the amount to increase to 420,000 lats in 2004.
At present, the company also has 12 outlets in Lithuania and two in Latvia. Its sales in nine months this year reached 52 million litas, up 15 percent from 45.1 million litas over the same period last year.
Exports account for 80 percent of Audimas' sales and have increased by 19 percent so far this year - from 33.6 million to 39.9 million litas. Other than in the Baltics, the company's output is sold in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Germany. (BBN, BNS)
