CAIRO: Egyptian ceramics company Lecico plans to double the production capacity of its sanitary ware division to 10 million pieces by 2015 and will launch an existing higher-end brand in Egypt in 2010, the group s chairman said. We are looking to double our earnings (for) the next three or four years by filling up our capacity, Gilbert Gargour told Reuters in an interview on Monday. Lecico, which exports a third of its sanitary ware products including toilets and sinks, wants to raise production in its sanitary ware division to between 5.5 and 6 million pieces in 2010. It would reach a capacity of 10 million by 2015, Gargour said. The company had reduced production capacity of the division, its top seller in the domestic market, from 6.5 to 5 million pieces in 2008 to offset the effect of the global economic crisis and weakening European currencies. Lecico, with a significant presence in Britain and France, posted a drop in net sales to LE 273 million ($50 million) in the second quarter of 2009 from LE 287 million in the same period a year earlier. We hope that once we reach 10 million pieces to be able to increase our prices by 10 percent, Gargour said. Lecico will also launch the high-end French sanitary ware brand Sarraguemines, which it acquired in 2006, in the Egyptian market in 2010, Gargour said. The firm, which currently targets the mass market in Egypt, holds a domestic market share in sanitary ware of around 38 to 40 percent , he added. Gargour said Lecico would launch Sarraguemines with a small production volume of just a couple of hundred thousand pieces but hoped the company s entry into the high-end market would consolidate its market share.
