Uniqlo casual clothing will open four of its first overseas stores in and around London on Sept. 28, the operator of the chain said Tuesday.

Fast Retailing Co. plans to open about 50 outlets in Britain over the next three years, officials said.

Genichi Tamatsuka, a managing director of Fast Retailing who is in charge of overseas operations, said the company hopes to make the British business break even in the second year and increase operating profits per sales ratio to 10 percent by the third year.

Tamatsuka said the company will offer competitive pricing and quality products to British consumers to compete with rivals such as Gap Inc., a U.S.-based clothing store chain, and Marks and Spencer PLC, a British department store chain.

For the Yamaguchi-based Fast Retailing, inroads into Britain are an important strategy to expanding business while sales growth of existing stores in Japan slows.

According to the company, total sales at the 328 outlets that opened before August 2000 declined 1.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the first decline on a year-on-year basis in 35 months.

Masatoshi Morita, another managing director of the company, said that with the proliferation of Uniqlo shops in recent years, sales at the 328 stores have reached saturation.

He added that sales may fall 5 percent on a year-on-year basis for the current business year to August 2002.

With a current total of 507 outlets nationwide, however, Fast Retailing saw sales in August increase 23 percent from a year earlier, according to the company.

The firm forecasts earnings of 120 billion yen in pretax profits for the current business year and targets annual growth in sales and profits at 20 percent over three years, company officials said.