Statement of LPP concerning the article on Newsweek.pl
To whom it may concern,
as regards the article “The owner of Reserved bought masks from the market, in which coronavirus is fought”, by Wojciech Cieśla published by Newsweek we hereby represent that its content is untrue and misleading for the public.
To confirm the above, we inform that:
1. the masks purchasing action organised by LPP took place at the end of January 2020 when the coronavirus epidemic was limited exclusively to the Asian continent and was a response to a dramatic call from LPP employees and their families in Shanghai, not an act aimed at securing continuity of production of our collections.
2. At the moment of coronavirus epidemic announcement in China and the shipment of masks by LPP, the entire production of the spring/summer collection had already been completed, and the employees of the Asian factories were not providing work for LPP. The purchase and shipment of the masks was not a measure aimed at speeding up the return of the employees to work in factories, but solely an act of solidarity and humanitarian gesture for the benefit of our colleagues of many years.
3. In consultation with the Polish diplomatic posts in Shanghai, Canton, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Beijing, the masks were provided not only to the Polish staff of the consulates and the embassy, but also to the Polish citizens staying in China, with whom the said posts have been in regular contact.
4. It is incomprehensible why Mr Cieśla had contacted random persons from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in order to find out more about the aid action for the diplomatic posts, despite having been given detailed contact data to Consul General of the Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Shanghai who was in charge of the action to distribute the masks to the diplomatic posts of the Republic of Poland in China.
5. The statement implying that the shipment of 500 thousand masks to China compromised the Polish masks market is also false. We note that the transport took place at the end of January when the coronavirus epidemic had not yet reached Europe. The editorial office formulated their accusations with to factual basis regarding the stock back-up available at the time to the health care institutions or companies trading in medical products in our country.
6. In the article, no account is taken of the fact that any assistance to those affected on the Asian continent at the time aimed at halting the spread of the virus and thus reducing the likelihood of its spread to other continents, including Europe.
7. It is not true that the action of purchasing masks for China was the only aid action immediately carried out by LPP. The full account of charity actions carried out by the company for years may be found here: https://www.lpp.com/zrownowazony-rozwoj.
8. Many of the companies that received assistance from LPP in January are currently supporting us, together with their Chinese subcontractors, in the purchase of medical supplies (thermometers, overalls, masks, specialist disinfectants, etc.) for the Polish health service in consultation with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
9. For a week, the Chinese partners who received our support at the beginning of the year, on their own initiative and in consultation with LPP, have been organizing transports of masks which are financed by the company to the amount of PLN 1 million and have been gradually transferring them to Polish hospitals.
In light of the above, we declare that the article published by Newsweek is untrue and deliberately compromises the good name of our company. LPP is a Polish family company which:
1. Provides a real support for the Polish economy; over the last 5 years LPP has contributed nearly LPN 4 billion to the Polish budget by way of paid levies,
2. in 2018 alone, it transferred almost PLN one billion to the state budget, including over PLN 144 million from CIT; thus, it was among the 30 payers who paid the largest amount of income tax according to the statement of the Ministry for Finance,
3. estimates that the amount of all the LPP payments to the state budget for 2019 will exceed PLN one billion,
4. in 2018, it ranked among the top three companies in the commercial sector in terms of the amount of taxes and other levies paid to the State,
5. It is also one of the largest private employers in Poland; it currently creates over 14 thousand jobs in the company’s structures in Poland (worldwide 25 thousand in total); it also contributes to providing work for thousands more people employed in the companies of its domestic subcontractors and business partners;
6. generated exports worth over PLN 3 billion in 2018.
In light of the above, we appeal for a reasonable approach when reading the quoted article and for a rational assessment of the presented facts.
Regards, LPP Press Office
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LPP SA is a Polish family business and one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. For over 25 years it has been successfully operating in Poland and abroad, offering its collection already on 25 markets, including in such prestigious capitals as London, Berlin, Tel Aviv or Moscow. LPP SA manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, and Sinsay. The company has a chain of over 1700 stores with the total area of over 1 million sq.m. The online offer of the brands collections is available on 30 markets. On the basis of a global supply chain, the Polish clothing producer distributes over 200 million pieces of clothing to three continents. LPP plays another important role as it employs over 25 thousand people in its offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.