The firm, which owns 90 sportswear stores under brand names of Marathon, Gigasports, Catalog, Columbia and Rockport, will spend millions of dollars to add at least five to six outlets in Hong Kong in the second half of 2005.

Swire Resources director Janis Tam said that sports apparel has become a fashion trend in Hong Kong and there is huge growth potential in the sportswear retail market.

``The cake has become bigger. More and more people treat sportswear as a kind of casual wear. It has already become part of our lifestyle to put on sports shirts during weekends,'' Tam said.

The economic rebound and the flood of mainland tourists to the SAR helped the company achieve double-digit growth each year for the past two years.

Catalog, a chain of 15 sportswear stores launched by Swire in 2001 that targets the young and trendy, saw particularly strong growth. Marathon, a sports lifestyle chain which focuses on the mass market, and Gigasports, which sells branded footwear, apparel and sports equipment, also recorded good growth.

To capture a bigger slice of the youth market, the firm is also spending more on image to make it look younger, as well as expanding its sales network. The company has spent more than HK$100,000 in recent months to employ and train a team of salespersons aged in their early 20s at Gigasports to be product specialists. They will receive professional training on selected sporting activities like basketball, soccer and swimming.

``By employing young specialists, we're looking to provide customers with professional advice on different sports, thus giving a more energetic brand image and drawing more young customers,'' Tam said.

Gigasports, whose major group of customers are sports players aged between 10 and 40, saw sales grow more than 10 percent to over HK$100 million last year. The company is planning more such stores in the future, she said.

Swire Resources, which opened five sportswear retail outlets in the first half, is planning another five to six outlets in the second half, she said.

``As the economy picks up, we have always hoped to open more stores in the city, though we must admit that surging rentals have increasingly become a concern,'' Tam said, adding that some landlords are doubling rents when the company seeks to renew tenancy agreements.

She said the firm will consider relocating some stores if rents became too expensive. In the future, it will look at opening stores in both prime locations and satellite towns.

``Many young couples with high consumption power now choose to live in satellite towns. We will review our network coverage and may put more stores there in the coming days,'' Tam said.

Meanwhile, the company, which holds distribution rights to Puma and Columbia products on the mainland and operates over 40 wholly owned outlets plus hundreds of sales points via regional dealers in the country, is also planning expansion in cities like Beijing and Guangzhou.

Swire Resources has 30 percent of sales coming from China. Driven by strong demand in China, Swire Resources doubled sales to more than HK$1 billion last year.

grace.lam@singtaonewscorp.com