In 2007, Sofia ranked sixth among the 20 most attractive expansion destinations for European retail chains in the next five years, consultancy company Cushman & Wakefield research showed.

Sofia had moved two places up since 2006, when it ranked eighth, investor.bg said.

Romania's capital ranks right after Sofia on a seventh position. In 2006, Bucharest was ninth.

According to the research, the Central and Eastern European cities were the most preferred destinations for expansion of retail chains. Moscow ranked first, followed by St Petersburg, Prague, Bratislava and Ljubljana.

Budapest and Tallinn ranked eighth and ninth.

The only Western European city in the top 10 was Amsterdam, which shared the 10th position with Kiev, investor.bg said.

The United Arab Emirates and Russia were the most desired countries for expansion of the retail chains, according to the research. Nine per cent of the companies said that they planned expansion in the two countries in the next five years.

Slovakia followed in the ranking with six per cent of the companies planning expansion there. Five per cent of the companies said Bulgaria, Slovenia and Hungary were targets for their expansion.

The research was conducted among managers in the real estate sector, in charge of the expansion of 250 retail chains in 23 European countries. Most of the companies said that economic development in a certain country, renting prices, labour market and consumers' attitude were among the key factors for expansion.