Sales in the Benelux countries were 0.2 per cent down to € 212.8 mio, mainly because of the downswing in the Netherlands, whereas the market in Belgium remained stable. Sales of the company's stores in Spain showed a clear decline in like-for-like terms. However, the three new store openings here resulted in an overall increase of 62 per cent to € 19.6 mio. The company now has eight outlets in this country.
The overall number of stores, including the 28 franchise outlets, has risen from 178 to a total of 187. The company expects both sales and profit to rise by around five per cent in 2010.