Company's After five years of negotiations, Boräs Cotton, one of the largest textile producers in northern Europe, recently landed a deal to supply curtains, bedspreads and bed valances for the Scandic Hotel Group's new hotels and renovations. The company hopes this deal lends momentum to its plans to increase its share of the lucrative contract market in the year 2000, said company President Mats Vikman. In fact, Boräs expects much of its projected growth and increased profitability to come from contract. The organization has recently hired new sales people to focus on the contract market, where Vikman expects to see 15 to 20 percent growth in the coming year. Currently, Boräs' contract fabrics - which are found in hotels, schools, hospitals, elderly homes and ships, including a Greek cruise ship and a Polish ferry - account for 20 to 25 percent of its turnover. The company has also introduced new collections aimed at the profitable cruise ship market and has begun to make fabrics to outfit offices. ''Contract is a long-term market,'' Vikman explained. ''It's not as trendy as retail. You have to make better qualities.'' Boräs' contract collection, called Nordic Inspiration, consists of a 29-color scale made from Trevira CS yarns. All the flame retardants are washable in 60-degree water and will retain flame-retardancy permanently. Vikman also said the products in the collection meet the flame-retardancy requirements of many different countries. Boras is also trying to bolster its contract sales via the Internet, said Vikman. Boräs has created a separate Internet contract collection whose products are available to licensed companies. ''It's a great help,'' Vikman said, ''because customers can always find what is current and we can show our novelties.'' The contract market is one for which an increasing number of suppliers are emerging. With most European countries coming out of their slump, markets opening in the Far East and the promise of the Baltic States and United States in both retail and contract, Boräs Cotton expects a banner year. ''The market is always up and down. Now it is quite 'up.' The depression is over,'' said Vikman. ''I see quite a bright future.'' Vikman's notion that a ''bright future'' was on the way helped drive the 150-year-old company to continue growing even in the face of what he calls the ''textile depression'' in Europe. ''Even during a textile depression, there is always business to be had,'' he said. ''You have to be strong.'' That said, a great deal of Boräs' muscle comes from its export activities, which account for nearly 60 percent of its current $120 million turnover. The vertical operation in Sweden, along with its seven daughter companies in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, the U.K. and Germany, spin, weave and sell terrycloth, bedlinen fabric, upholstery fabric and readymades in 100 percent cotton for retail and curtains and bedlinens in Trevira CS for contract. From its Nordic base, the company exports to continental Europe, the U.S. and the world. Right now, said Vikman, the Baltic region is showing excellent promise, and the company has many new contacts in Russia, the Ukraine and former Eastern Bloc states.