LPP (company)


LPP Spółka Akcyjna – is a Polish apparel retailer dealing with design, production and distribution of clothing. The company has five brands in its portfolio: Reserved, House, Cropp, Mohito and Sinsay.
The LPP sales network consists of more than 1,700 stores located in 25 countries. LPP employs over 24,000 people in its offices, distribution centre and sales network in Poland, countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. LPP SA is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.

History

1991-2000

In 1991 in Gdańsk, Marek Piechocki and Jerzy Lubianiec started their activity in the clothing industry. After four years, the company initially operating under the name of PH Mistral s.c. was transformed into LPP. In 1997 the office in Shanghai was officially open. In the late 1990s, the owners of LPP decided to create their first  brand - Reserved - and build their own retail network. The first store of the brand, which to this day remains the pillar of LPP group, was opened in 1998 in Gdynia.

2001-2013

In 2001, LPP made its début on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The next two years saw the expansion of Reserved brand to the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2002, the company stores were opened in Russia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Hungary, and in 2003 in Lithuania, Ukraine and Slovakia. Thanks to the success of the brand, the company expanded its portfolio and opened a Cropp store in Poland in 2004. In the following years the brand was launched in Estonia, Slovakia, and Latvia as well as in Lithuania, Russia, and the Czech Republic. The years 2007 - 2008 were the period of development of activity on the Romanian and Bulgarian markets. In 2008, LPP opened its Distribution Centre in Pruszcz Gdański. In the same year, LPP took over a Cracow-based company - Artman - owner of House and Mohito brands. Owing to this transaction, LPP became the largest clothing company in Poland and the owner of four brands. In 2012, the company's portfolio was expanded by Sinsay brand.

since 2014

In 2014, the company was included in the WIG20 index, and the flagship brand - Reserved - appeared on the German market. In the same year, all LPP products made their début in the Balkans, in Croatia. In the following year, the company expanded into the Middle East. At the end of 2017, the LPP sales network comprised more than 1,700 stores with a total area of 1 million square metres. In 2017, the LPP product office was opened in Warsaw, and Reserved, Cropp and House brands made their débuts in Belarus and Serbia. In 2017 LPP opened a Reserved store on Oxford Street in London. 2018 saw further débuts of LPP stores on new markets, this time in Israel, Kazakhstan, and Slovenia. In 2019 the Company opened first stores in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Finland.

Stores and distribution centres

LPP has a network of stores comprising the total of over 1,700 stores of five clothing brands. Their products are offered in 25 countries.
LPP is the owner of the largest and most cutting edge distribution centre in Central and Eastern Europe, located in Pruszcz Gdański. In 2017, LPP launched a new Distribution Centre in SEGRO Logistics Park Stryków near Łódź, responsible for e-commerce services for the following brands: Reserved, Mohito, and Sinsay. The facility is operated by Arvato. At the same time, LPP launched a similar centre near Moscow.
As a result of further dynamic development of the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce network, in 2018 the company announced its decision to build a distribution centre in Brześć Kujawski and to open a warehouse in Romania. A year later, the company also signed a lease contract for warehouse space in Slovakia, which will be used to serve customers of online stores of the company from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Modern warehouse infrastructure allows the company to sell and distribute over 265 million pieces of clothing and accessories per year.

Production

LPP does not operate its own factories. The clothing of the Group's brands is produced mainly in Asia, but also in Poland and other European countries, including Italy, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Currently, 87 clothing factories are working in Poland for the needs of LPP, where sewing of dedicated collections is commissioned to about 1,700 employees full-time. Since 1997, the company has had an office in Shanghai, and since 2015 also in the capital of Bangladesh - Dhaka. The employees of the facility are responsible, among others, for the acquisition of suppliers, support for particular stages of production, as well as quality control.

Presence on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

LPP SA has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2001. At the time of its début, the price per share was PLN 48. In 2014, LPP was included in the WIG20 index of the 20 largest companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In the same year, LPP was included in the MSCI index.

Shareholding structure

According to the company's own data, the number of votes at the General Meeting of Shareholders is as follows:
In 2018 the founders of the Company, in order to ensure its long-term continuity and avoid the fragmentation of LPP capital in the future, decided to establish a foundation and contribute their shares there.

Selected awards and distinctions

Since 2013, LPP has been systematically working on the implementation of standards for improving safety and working conditions in the clothing industry in Asia. Since 2014, a Code of Conduct has been in force for all suppliers working with LPP. The document takes into account the key provisions of the International Labour Organization conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and sets out the requirements for suppliers, including, among others, wage policy, prohibition of child labour, voluntary nature of work, freedom of association, occupational health and safety principles. In order to increase supervision over the factories producing for LPP in Bangladesh, in addition to controlling its own inspectors, the company decided to commission an international auditor, SGS, to verify the actual compliance of suppliers in Bangladesh with the Code of Conduct.
In addition, in October 2013, LPP, as the only Polish clothing company, joined the ACCORD agreement aimed at improving safety in clothing factories in Bangladesh. Thanks to the cooperation and financial support of the signatories of the agreement, a total of more than 1600 Asian production plants and sewing plants were subject to inspection. ACCORD also contributed to the implementation of recovery programmes in more than 90% of the factories. As part of the “Safety Committee Training” programme, one of the key projects of the agreement, by the end of 2017, 882 training courses were conducted in which nearly 1.2 million employees participated.
At the beginning of 2018, LPP signed another 3-year extension of the agreement, the so-called “Transition ACCORD”. Its main objective is to prepare the Bengali government to carry out independent inspections and audits in the factories and to ensure further implementation of measures aimed at sustainable improvement of working conditions.

LPP as a tax payer

According to a report by the Ministry of Finance, in 2018, LPP was ranked third among the largest CIT payers in Poland in the commercial sector.
YearRevenues Income CIT
20186.91044144.8
20176.153641
20165.22436
20154.841944
20144.462286
20133.854287
2012339357

Since 2015, the company has paid a total of PLN 4.2 billion to the state budget for taxes and other tributes, while its contribution to the Polish budget in 2019 alone exceeded PLN 1 billion.

CSR and charitable activity

Since the very beginning of its operations, LPP has donated more than PLN 20 million, supporting nearly 1000 organisations. With a view to continuing the charitable activity pursued by the company for many years, in December 2017 the LPP Foundation was established. The aim of its activities is to support people threatened by social exclusion, help people in difficult life situations and ensure health protection.

Taking care of the environment

LPP conducts activities aimed at respecting natural resources at various stages of the company's activity — from the selection of raw materials for clothing, through sales, to the operation of the company's offices and logistics facilities.
Selected activities of LPP related to environmental protection