Dixy forecasts 7-8 bln rubles in 2017 capex, plans to open 50-60 stores
MOSCOW. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Retailer Dixy Group is forecasting capex for 2017 of 7-8 billion rubles, CEO Sergei Belyakov said in a conference call on Wednesday.
He said that Dixy is planning to open 50-60 stores this year.
During a conference call in March he said that the 180 sales outlets would be opened in 2017. The retailer is currently reviewing its organic growth plans, Belyakov said.
"We are currently reviewing our store opening plan. For me it is important to get higher profitability at [new] stores compared to existing stores as the criteria for opening new stores are quite high. On the whole we are expecting that around 50-60 stores will be opened by the end of the year [not counting closures]," he said.
Dixy opened 19 new stores in H1 2017, seven convenience stores and 12 Victoria supermarkets while 104 stores were closed, of them 103 convenience stores and one supermarket. In January-June last year the company opened 93 stores and closed 50. Capex totaled 9.5 billion rubles in 2016.
The retailer's capex for H1 this year was 2.365 billion rubles, down 42.6% on the year before. The bulk of the funds (1.398 billion rubles) were spent on developing logistics. Capex on opening new stores was down 73.7% to 402 million rubles and on the reconstruction and repair of stores - 268 million rubles, down 35.3%.