Retail

X5 slides after director quits

Written by

The X5 Retail Group has fallen to its lowest point in more than two weeks after the director of its discount format division of 15 years quit.

Shares slid 5.2 percent to $25.05 at 12 p.m. in London trading, the weakest intraday level since Feb. 16. Oleg Vysotsky will continue to manage the division until a replacement is found and will then serve as a transition adviser, X5 said in a statement today.

“Mr. Vysotsky was one of X5’s star managers, who has helped to make discounters the company’s best-performing business,” said Luis Saenz, chief executive officer of the U.S. unit of Moscow-based brokerage Otkritie Financial Corp. in an e- mailed note today. “His departure is likely to weaken X5’s core segment.”

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Wal-Mart sees promise in Russia, X5 denies deal

Written by

U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, which has flirted with entering Russia for years, still sees promise in the vast country, and will continue to look for the right opportunity, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Its comment followed a report in St Petersburg-based Russian magazine “Delovoi Peterburg” that it is in talks to buy the Karusel hypermarket chain from X5, Russia’s top food retailer by sales. The report said that a deal may be announced in around two weeks.

Analysts estimated such a deal could be worth $2 billion. An X5 spokeswoman said: “We deny these reports categorically.”

Wal-Mart has looked at Russia for years but appeared to have given up in December 2010 when it closed its Moscow office due to a lack of acquisition opportunities.

It reawakened speculation it was still interested in Russia when it hired Lev Khasis, the former head of X5, as a senior vice president in September 2011.

A research report by analysts at Uralsib said X5 could ask around $2 billion for the hypermarkets which “would provide quick entry to Russia for Walmart.”

Source: www.reuters.com

7-Eleven to enter Russian retail market

Written by

One of the world’s largest franchise chains 7-eleven is entering the Russian market. As per experts’ opinion, the company is likely to find a partner among local retail operators or sell their master-license. Among the candidates for development on the Russian market – X5 Retail group and Metro.

7-Eleven Inc. belongs to Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd which is part of Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. The first shops were opened in 1927 in the USA, and in 1950-s there were already 100 shops. Today the company is operating 40,000 shops, the majority is concentrated in Japan.

Source: www.retail.ru

Finnish Kesko to open K-Citymarket in St. Petersburg

Written by

Last year the Finnish Group Kesko announced the intention to open 4 hypermarkets in St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region in the next 2 years. The land plot for the construction has already been chosen. Kesko Food is planning to reach 500 mln Euro net sales by 2015. Kesko Group is operating about 2,000 clothes, food and construction materials stores in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Russia and Belarus.

Source: www.retail.ru

The Federal Purchasing Alliance to increase direct import of fruit and vegetables.

Written by

The Federal Purchasing Alliance JSC “System “Т3С” announced that the direct import program of fruit and vegetables from the foreign suppliers, which was launched in June 2011, allowed to increase the turnover volume by 117% for 7 months. As of today 33 out of 40 retail chains – members of The Federal Purchasing Alliance take part in the program. Decrease of the purchasing price for retail chains (in comparison to the local distributors) is 12% to 90% (depending on local market conditions). The Federal Purchasing Alliance cooperates with suppliers from Serbia, Poland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

In 2012 the Alliance is planning to expand the range of directly imported goods and engage new retailers. The company will be importing all top fruit and vegetables from Poland, Serbia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Holland, Israel and Egypt.

Source: www.retail.ru

Russian and Dutch investment team plan Florida launch

Written by

Russian retailer, Agro Trade, is looking to build a chain of retail stores in Florida, with the backing of a Dutch investor. The company is looking into a potential 400 stores to create a projected $1 billion of sales within four years.

The scheme would be backed by a Dutch investment to the tune of $500 million, from the same firm that backed Russia’s X5 Retail Group. Andrei Rogachyov, who founded those chains and remains an investor in X5, is separately heading AgroTrade International, according to a report in the Moscow Times newspaper.

It is not clear what branding Agro Trade would seek to use in its new stores, though it is expected they will begin trading this year from around 60 outlets.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Billa in favour of take-over in Russia

Written by

The Austrian supermarket chain Billa have requested permission from the Russian competition authority to take over the supermarket chain Citystore. Although Citystore is specialized in the food trade the chain is run by the Turkish building company Enka Insaat.

Enka took over the chain in 2007. At that stage the chain controlled ten shopping centres and 52 supermarkets in various Russian towns. Enka had from the beginning plans to sell the supermarket chain. Some supermarkets were already rented to the French chain Auchan in the meantime. Other shops in the region had to be closed during the crisis.

Citystore still have 17 supermarkets in Moscow, of which seven are their own and ten have been rented out on long leases.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Okey to open 17 new hypermarkets in 2012

Written by

In 2011 retail operator Okey added 14 stores to its chain – 7 hypermarkets and 7 supermarkets, the opening of 4 hypermarkets was postponed till 2012. One in Voronezh was opened on 5 January 2012, hypermarkets in Ufa and Tyumen will be launched in January-February, till the end of Q2 2012 a store in Moscow will be opened. Apart from that the retailer is planning to open 13 more stores till the end of 2012.

Source: www.retail.ru

German Billa is planning takeover of Russian Citystore

Written by

Billa, the Central European arm of German retail giant Rewe, wants to take over Russian supermarket chain Citystore. Moscow-based Citystore confirmed talks with Billa were being held.

In addition, Russia’s competition regulator, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, confirmed that Billa has requested approval to take over the chain. Experts in Russian media estimate the value of the deal at US$70-100m.

Citystore is owned by Turkish conglomerate Enka and consists of 17 supermarkets, all of which are based in Moscow or the region of Moscow.

Billa entered the Russian market in 2004 and operates 72 supermarkets, the lion share of which are also located in the Russian capital.

Source: www.just-food.com

More than 50% of Russian retail managers don’t expect any changes in the economical situation

Written by

According to Rosstat (Russian State Statistics Service), more than 50% of Russian retail managers don’t expect any changes in the economical situation in retail in Q1 2012.

However, around 30% of the polled trade companies are expecting the retail turnover to increase in Q1 2012, 25% are going to raise the sales volume, supply and the range of sold goods. At the same time 25% of undertakers expect revenues growth, and almost 50% – further price growth, 6% are planning to raise the trade mark-up.

In Q4 2011 the average level of trade mark-up was 27%, like in 2010.

Source: www.retail.ru