LCR Jeans, owning the licence for Lee Cooper storesdomestically, filed for insolvency in mid-December 2009, with thereorganisation of its business being taken over by EuroinsolConsulting legal administrator of Prahova.
The company, held by a group of foreign investors, which offeredno details about the current situation of the business, closedalmost half of the number of stores, four of which inBucharest.
Lee Cooper, which generated turnover worth almost 11m euros in2008 when it had around 30 units, most of them in Bucharest,directly competes with Little Big or Levi's on a jeans marketplayers in the field put at 300m euros. The estimate was madeagainst an average of two pairs of jeans bought annually, at aprice of 15 euros each, by about 10 million people.
The company a year ago announced it had a budget of above 3meuros for development and was due to reach a network of 50 LeeCooper stores by late 2009.
Until the internal reorganisation decision, the jeans brand wasone of the most visible in Romania, with countrywide coverage, bothin major shopping centres and in street front locations on areas of150 square metres. Depending on area, season and location, a storesells between 3,000 and 6,000 items, with jeans items accountingfor most of the sales, as much as 60%, according to informationpreviously provided by the company.
In late 2008, Ronen Haliva, LCR Jeans manager, owning 45% of thecompany, announced the retailer would end the year with 14m euros,but estimates were proven wrong by reality. From a 1.3m-euro profitand 10.6m-euro turnover in 2007, LCR Jeans stepped into the red thefollowing year, amid flat turnover.
In 2009, the financial crisis further hurt the retailer'sbusiness, as the market fell by 30-40%. During the year, sales weredriven by the clothes renewal programme.
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