The company, which carries hundreds of brands, including Tsumori Chisato and Helmut Lang, said it plans to add 23 new stores to its 129 outlets in the SAR in the coming year.

It will open new stores with a total floor area of up to 120,000 square feet in the three years from March 2005, group chairman and chief executive Sham Ka-wai said on Monday.

About HK$171 million will go towards opening multi-brand stores, while HK$49 million will be for the opening of single-brand stores and HK$60 million for renovation of existing outlets.

Sham, who is married to former actress Chingmy Yau, said he has no plans to sell his shares in the coming 12 months.

He said the company will strive to keep the rental expenditure at less than 20 percent of turnover and will continue to strengthen its foothold in Hong Kong while expanding in China.

``The recovery in Hong Kong's retail industry and the increase in spending power in greater China have created huge potential for our business,'' Sham said.

``We'll continue to seek network expansion.

``Our mission is to shape the fashion scene in greater China.''

Meanwhile, the retailer also plans to add 30 stores to its 12 outlets in Taiwan and 60 to 80 stores in the mainland each year. It will use about HK$60 million of the net proceeds to fund the expansion in the two markets.

I.T, which set up a joint venture with listed apparel maker Glorious Sun Enterprises in 2003, now operates 23 concessions and sells apparel to 56 franchisee-owned freestanding stores and 10 franchisee-owned store-in-stores.