Douglas sees growth potential in E.Europe -report

FRANKFURT, Sept 7 (Reuters) - German fragrance-to-fashion retailer Douglas Holding (DOHG.DE) sees growth and profit opportunities in eastern Europe due to untapped market potential, Chief Executive Henning Kreke said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

"Our growth visions focus on Europe, especially eastern Europe because there is still so much potential there," he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS).

"We see double-digit sales growth in Russia and Poland. Some eastern European markets are already profitable, especially Poland," he said.

He reiterated a pretax profit target for the group of nearly 150 million euros ($214.5 million) for the year ending Sept. 30, saying while slowing growth remained a problem, consumers appeared to be holding to purchases of beauty products.

He also gave a target to raise the number of its German perfume stores to 500 from 440 currently, without giving a time schedule.

Douglas fashion outlets operating under the name Appelrath-Cuepper would be placed "under scrutiny" but were thought able to manage a turnaround, he said.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Quentin Bryar)