French retailer Leclerc is to funnel PlZ160m (US$41.4m) into its Polish activities in 2003.

The company will build two new supermarkets and start work on three more, the company said this week. “Development plans include construction of two new supermarkets, one in Lublin and one in Belchatow, and the beginning of the construction of three new supermarkets,” the company said in a statement.

Leclerc’s turnover in Poland improved in 2002 to PlZ1.53bn from PlZ1.48bn in 2001. The French company owns nine hypermarkets in Poland.