In a plan to rationalise the business Levi Strauss & Co are to concentrate on its core Dockers and Levi's brand in both Europe and the US. Sales growth has been driven by the value-priced Levi's Signature range.

The famed US denim-retailer reported sales for the first quarter of 2004 of USD962m, up 3.5 per cent at constant exchange rates. Chief executive officer Phil Marineau stated: "I'm encouraged about the start of the year. First-quarter sales exceeded our expectations. Results were driven by the growth and expansion of the Levi Strauss Signature brand and a very robust Asia Pacific business."

In a bid to counteract the decline of sales for Levi's brands and Dockers, the company has launched new marketing campaigns and revamped the brands to make them more relevant and appealing. Levi Strauss chief financial officer Jim Fogarty said: "Looking ahead, ongoing deflationary pressures in apparel and a competitive market worldwide will continue to put pressure on sales and margins."

He said a rationalisation of product lines will include "narrowing our merchandising assortments, exiting unprofitable or low-volume product lines, and licensing out categories that we believe are not in our core competency, including men's and women's tops and kids' products in the US Levi's brand and women's tops in the Dockers brand.

The lower-priced Signature range is now being trialled in 10 Tesco stores in the UK. Initially launched in Wal-Mart's US stores last year, the range is now also sold by US discounter Target, and is also being rolled out to Wal-Mart's Asda stores in the UK.