Hatzioannou, the leading European group in the second skin manufacturing and value for money retailing, announced that its 100% UK subsidiary Virgin ware opened a new store in the UK. The store was in Telford on July 17, 2004.

Virgin ware now operates in total 18 stores in England. (Please see table).

The rights to the Virgin brand were bought in 2000 by Unique Commerce Ltd, which is a 100% owned subsidiary based in Manchester, UK. Unique Commerce owns the rights for commercial exploitation of the Virgin trademark globally and in perpetuity for products of inwear (men's, ladies, children's, underwear, swimwear, nightwear, hosiery and socks).

We are initially focussing exclusively on female underwear.

Virgin ware currently operates 18 own stores in the UK, with a further 5 under negotiation. The rollout programme is for 25-30 stores in the UK by the end of 2004.

Virgin ware is consolidated to the group for the first time in 2004.

Hatzioannou shares are listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (Reuters: HADr.AT), (Bloomberg: HATZK GA) and also traded on the Deutsche Borse.

This information is also available on Hatzioannou's website at www.hatzi.gr