Urgent press conference of LPP. The president outplayed journalists again

Many business people like to appear in the media. They willingly appear on TV programs and podcasts, attend industry meetings and receive awards. However, there are entrepreneurs in Polish business who, although they have achieved great success, want to remain in the shadow, to such an extent that they do not even allow themselves to be photographed.

Piechocki and Biernacki – no one knows what they look like

Such a mysterious entrepreneur is the owner of the Dino retail chain. Nobody knows what Tomasz Biernacki looks like: his photos are not in any database, he does not appear at conferences. The businessman from Krotoszyn is so popular in his neighborhood that he does not have to worry that someone will take a photo of him and sell it to the media – regardless of the fact that such a photo would be really worth a lot. Since there are no such photos, there is an empty box next to the name of Tomasz Biernacki in the annual list of the richest Poles – and it will probably stay that way.

An equally mysterious person is Marek Piechocki, co-founder and president of the LPP Group. His photos are also not in the databases, and all those taken in the past have been deleted. The website virtualmedia.pl reported that the company simply bought them.

That doesn't mean he's hiding from the media at all. In an interview for “Gazeta Wyborcza”, Piechocki said that protecting his image is his private decision, thanks to which, regardless of his professional achievements, he can feel at ease, e.g. when dealing with everyday matters. Tomasz Bernacki, president of Dino, does not give interviews at all.

Conference of the president of LPP. Piechocki turned off the camera

Piechocki does not participate in business galas, fashion shows, or gives lectures. He also does not participate in conferences announcing LPP's business activities. He made an exception on Monday.

As a result of allegations by the American company Hinderburg Research that LPP still operates in Russia, on Friday the shares of the owner of brands such as Reserved, Sinsay and Cropp fell by almost 30%. From the beginning, the company has consistently assured that it will exit the Russian market in 2022 after selling all its assets to a Chinese buyer. However, a series of statements and notification of the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Tax Administration about the possibility of a crime committed by the American intelligence agency did not reassure shareholders.

In this situation, the company called a press conference. The invitation indicated that Marek Piechocki, co-founder and president of the LPP Group, and Przemysław Lutkiewicz, vice president for finance of the LPP Group, would speak at the event. The journalists were very happy because they believed that it would be an opportunity to finally take a photo of him. Nothing of that.

The conference took place online. Both men spoke, but Piechocki had his camera turned off.

Charges against LPP. The president answers questions

Since Friday, LPP representatives have assured that after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the company immediately decided to leave Russia as soon as possible. “The process of finding an investor was conducted under time pressure and with a very limited group of potential buyers. Some of them were only interested in purchasing goods from LPP, others offered to take over the most attractive locations in shopping centers, and still others proposed replacing the stores with European locations. At the outbreak of the war, the company's portfolio included 557 stores located on the Russian market. After considering all possible options, with the primary goal of maintaining the company's stable situation and employee safety, the Russian business was sold in 2022 to a buyer not related in any way to the LPP Group,” we read in one of several statements issued on Friday.

Since the decision to sell the assets of the Russian company, neither LPP nor members of the Company's Management Board have planned and do not plan to return to operations on this market – assures the president of LPP.

– The decision to sell the business that had been built over 20 years was one of the most difficult ones we had to face, and at the same time the only right one we could make at that time. We operated in unprecedented conditions, under enormous time pressure. In this extremely difficult situation, we had to reconcile the needs of investors and recover at least part of the funds invested in that market with the needs of our employees who had been building a business there with LPP for many years – Marek Piechocki said at the conference.

He perceived the American company's Friday report as “an attempt to manipulate and act to the detriment not only of the company and our employees, but also of investors and business partners, dictated solely by the desire to achieve profits at this cost.”