Adams, the British children's wear retailer with 400 stores on two continents, is to embark on a major expansion of operations in the Republic following a successful year that has seen trading profits jump by 34 per cent.
Specialists in the age 0-10 fashion market, Adams currently has 18 outlets in the Republic, with another 17 stores in Northern Ireland, and has already identified 10 key target locations for expansion here.
City centre premises in Limerick and Galway are actively being sought to complement existing stores on the outskirts of both cities.
Targeting the satellite towns ringing Dublin is another objective of the group. While stores in Tullamore, Mullingar, Carlow and Arklow are high on the list of priorities, Navan is top of that list, according to Mr Kevin Shelly, general manager for Ireland.
"We've been looking for a store opportunity in Navan for the last three years, and while we have been offered some potentials, unfortunately none have met our search criteria. "We require a minimum of 2,500 sq ft of floor space in a prime site. We will keep looking," he said.
Clonmel in Tipperary is tipped as another definite location, along with Dundalk, Cork and the Liffey Valley centre. Adams, which opened its first store here in 1991, is anxious to expand in Ireland and hopes to have these new stores located and open in the near future.
Doubling company profits is another objective of the retailer. Mr Michael Hobbs, chief executive of the private company, is considering the option of floating on the stock exchange as a method of achieving that.
"We are also working with our advisers, Arthur Andersen, to assess a number of different strategic growth options.
"Organic growth has served us well so far, but it is difficult to achieve our aims of doubling in size based on that alone. Whatever strategy we ultimately choose, it will certainly continue to be an exciting time for the company."
The comments came as Adams reported trading profits up from £10 million sterling to £13.4 million (15.9m-21.34m), on sales up 10 per cent from £197.5 million to £217 million (314.5m -345.6m).
Irish operations contributed turnover of £16.5 million (26.28m) to Adams' overall turnover. The Irish business contributed profits of £4.4 million (7m) before central costs. This strong performance during the last 12 months has been matched by an increase to 8.4 per cent in Adams' total market share, including concessions, of the 0-10 years clothing sector.
This leaves Adams only a fraction behind the UK's largest childrenswear retailer, Marks and Spencer, which has an 8.5 per cent market share (source: TNS Fashion Track, July 2001). In the Republic, Dunnes Stores is Adams' biggest competitor.
Mr Hobbs, who led the management buy-out of Adams from Sears plc in July 1999, says: "These tremendous results have been achieved in a highly competitive and challenging sector in difficult high-street trading conditions. During the last year, we have carried out a thorough review of key areas of the business including sourcing, product ranges and pricing and this has helped to improve our net margins to 54.2 per cent."
The Adams stores and department store concessions in the Republic are operated as part of the core business, unlike Adams stores in Cyprus and the Middle East, which are operated as franchises. Irish turnover is included in the company's UK results.
In Dublin there are currently five Adams outlets - Arnotts on Henry Street, the Blanchardstown Town Centre (one of the overall top 10 stores in the international network), The Square in Tallaght, D·n Laoghaire Shopping Centre and the Omni Park centre in Santry.
Cork has two Adams stores, in Blackpool and Merchants Quay Shopping Centre, while Drogheda, Athlone, Galway, Kilkenny, Killarney, Limerick, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford and Wexford also have Adams shops.
