Poland's LPP optimistic about consumer behaviour in H2

GDANSK (Reuters) - Polish fashion group LPP is optimistic about consumer behaviour in the second half of the year, Chief Financial Officer Przemyslaw Lutkiewicz said on Friday, but the company does not plan price hikes as consumers are still cost sensitive.

"We believe that the consumer will behave better on the purchasing side. We see falling inflation, we see real rising wages. So we are optimistic about consumer behaviour in the second half of the year," he said during a conference after second quarter results on Thursday.

Polish CPI slowed down to 10.1% year-on-year in August compared to 16.1% year-on-year last year, according to Polish Statistics Office data. Corporate wages rose 11.9% on the year in August.

Lutkiewicz said sales in August and the beginning of September had been good, although they had currently slowed due to warmer weather.

"For us, a good start means that the season's good streak should continue. It is actually interrupted by good weather at the moment," he said, adding that he believed October, November and December will be significantly better than last year.

The company, which owns brands such as Reserved, Cropp and Mohito, is not currently planning any price hikes.

"We do not plan any special policy changes. We see that customers are price sensitive, so we try to keep prices at an attractive level", Lutkiewicz said.

The company upheld its target to reach about 18 billion zlotys ($4.16 billion) of revenue in fiscal year 2023/24.

In the first half of the year, LPP's net profit reached 548.3 million zlotys, compared with a net loss of 94.3 million zlotys last year. Revenue rose 11.4% from the prior year to 8.21 billion zlotys.

($1 = 4.3290 zlotys)

(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert; Editing by Jan Harvey and Sharon Singleton)