Compton Cyprus sells ELC Greece stores for EUR 6 mln

Compton House Investments, operator of eight Early Learning Centre franchise stores in Cyprus and Greece has sold the Athens operations for EUR 6 mln to I. Kloukinas – I. Lappas, the Greek operator of the Mothercare stores, after the latter also secured ELC franchise rights for the Balkans.

Compton operates a flagship store in Makedontissa, with two more shops in the Orphanides Shopping Mall and Shacolas’ Mall of Cyprus, as well as a store in Linopetra, Limassol.

Compton’s founder and Managing Director, Skevos Antoniou, said that the company will continue to operate the ELC franchise in Cyprus and that “we are talking to Early Learning Centre for the development of franchises in other territories.”

ELC has 215 stores in the UK and a further 105 in 19 countries and territories, most of them through franchise partners.

“The transition of ELC in Greece from Compton to Kloukinas Lappas also ties in with the recent merger of Mothercare and ELC with prospects of high levels of growth that will expand the present joint network from 600 to 1,000 stores in the next two years,” Antoniou added.

In Athens, the stores are located in Glyfada, Nea Erithrea, The Mall in Marousi and Nea Smyrni, with an anticipated income of EUR 5,5 mln in 2007 and profits of about EUR 500,000.

The new operator in Greece plans to open three more ELC outlets – one in Alimo, one in Chalkida in conjunction with a new Mothercare and one in Thessaloniki.

Expansion plans for the ELC brand in the Balkans include new site developments as early as in 2008.

Kloukinas Lappas, that also operates Beauty&Colors chain in Greece, plans to open 15 new Mothercare outlets in Greece over the next two years and 26 stores in the region.

In a stock exchange filing in Athens, the company reported a 15% increase in 9-monthly revenues to EUR 42,7 mln, with profits up 47% to EUR 7,5 mln from the same three-quarter period a year ago.

The company disclosed that its profits for 2008 are projected to rise to EUR 24 mln, considering the increase of operations in the children’s clothes and toys retail division, and the reduction of the Group’s construction sector.