Russia's leading food retailer X5 Group has revealed its results from a busy first quarter period, that saw it add 137 new stores and launch its online business under the E5.ru brand.
The Moscow-based group saw consolidated net retail sales increased 4.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis to RR116.9bn (€3bn), while like-for-like sales dropped 3.9 per cent.
'I am pleased to report that we have increased the amount of selling space added this quarter by over 160 per cent year-on-year, positioning us for another record year of growth,' said CEO Andrei Gusev. 'With our margins intact and the improvements in March traffic, we are convinced that our strategy is on the right track.
'In 2011, the integration of the Kopeyka acquisition and new store openings resulted in a rapid increase of over 65 per cent in the scale of our managed store base in just 12 months,' Gusev continued. 'Subsequently, the company embarked on a transformation, organising itself around formats that are even more customer focused and assembling a multi-national senior management team with the skills to take X5 to the next level of excellence.
'We expect better quarter-on-quarter results in each of the formats for the remainder of 2012 driven by improving LFL’s, the growing sales contribution from new stores and stable macroeconomic environment. Based on these factors, we are confident in our ability to deliver sales growth of 15-20 per cent in 2012 while maintaining EBITDA margins above 7 per cent.'
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