SSL International, maker of Durex condoms and Scholl footwear, has set an ambitious new earnings target following its expansion into Russia and soaring sales of novelty products.

The company is in the process of buying a controlling stake in BLBV, the maker of Russia’s best-selling condom brand, which would make the region SSL’s second biggest market outside the UK. SSL sold 400m condoms in Russia in the final six months of 2008, about 20 per cent of its total production.