9 Oct 2009 11:01

X5 Retail Group boosts sales by 24% in Q3 to 65.7 bln rubles

MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - X5 Retail Group, which manages the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel grocery chains, increased net sales in the third quarter of 2009 by 24% to 65.7 billion rubles, the company said in a statement.

In dollar equivalent, sales dropped by 4% to $2.09 billion during this period.

Revenue from like-for-like sales increased by 8% with traffic up 7%.

The company's sales revenue for the nine months increased by 38% to 196.6 billion rubles. However, this figure dropped by 2% in dollar terms to $6.05 billion.

LFL sales in January-September increased by 11% in rubles. The company said that traffic during this period had increased by 5%.

As of the end of September, X5 had 1,217 stores under its management covering a combined floorspace of 962,700 square meters, including 952 Pyaterochka discounters, 210 Perekrestok supermarkets and 55 Karusel stores.

X5 Retail Group is Russia's largest grocery retailer by revenue. The company had net revenue of $8.9 billion in 2008, EBITDA of $803 million and net profit without goodwill write-offs of $112 million.

Alfa Group is the leading shareholder with 47.9%, the founders of Pyaterochka have 23.1%, company management has 1.9% and 0.1% is treasury stock in the form of GDR. Another 27% of shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange.