X5 Retail Group

Russia’s X5 Finalises Ukraine Exit

Written by

One of Russia’s biggest retailers X5 Retail Group has finalised the sale of its Perekrestok supermarket operations in Ukraine, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sale of the retailer’s Ukraine unit, X5 Group Ukraine, which accounts for less than 0.3% of total revenue is “consistent with the company’s strategy to focus on core retail activities within the Russian Federation,” it said in the statement. It did not disclose the value of the deal, or its buyer.

X5 is the first Russian company to pull out of the country since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region that followed the overthrow of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.

Reuters have said that the deal had been in the works since October 2013, but the crisis over Crimea may have quickened the pace of talks.

Varus is buying the lease rights to 13 Perekryostok stores in and near Kiev, as well as in-store facilities and stock, Capital quoted Varus’s co-owner Ruslan Shostak as saying.

According to the 2013 financial report, X5 has 12 stores in Ukraine out of a total of 4,544 mostly across Russia.

www.freshplaza.com

Slowdown in Pyaterochka refurbishment process

Written by

The X5 Retail Group, a prominent grocery retailer, has announced that the total number of Pyaterochkadiscounters to be refurbished this year will be less than previously planned. This is because the project has proven to be more challenging than the company had estimated.

The retailer had planned to revamp 1,100 stores in 2014 and to complete the refurbishment of the entire chain by the end of 2015. The average cost of reformatting one establishment is $360,000 (€259,000). In October 2013 X5 planned to spend between $160m and $440m (€115-317m) on this over 18 months.

At the end of last year, X5 was operating 4,544 stores in total. These included 3,822 Pyaterochka discounters, 390 Perekrestok supermarkets, 83 Karusel hypermarkets, and 189 differently branded express stores.

www.ceeretail.com

X5 revenue growth accelerates amid Russian retail slowdown

Written by

X5 Retail Group NV posted the strongest quarterly sales growth in two years as it closed the gap on competitors including OAO Magnit and O’Key Group SA.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 12 percent to 150 billion rubles ($4.4 billion), benefiting from an improved product assortment and promotional activity, the Moscow-based grocer said today in a statement. That compares with growth of 6.6 percent in the previous three months.

The increase in sales beat the 8 percent estimate of VTB Capital, sending the shares up as much as 7.1 percent.

“This is surprising given that Magnit, O’Key and M.video reported a slowdown in fourth-quarter sales, citing weakening consumer spending,” VTB Capital analyst Ivan Kushch said.

While X5’s accelerating sales bucked the trend, the overall growth rate is still the weakest of its main rivals, according to Kushch. “We need to see if the company’s turnaround is sustainable,” he said. “Fourth-quarter growth was largely driven by promotional price declines, which may have hurt profits.”

Magnit, Russia’s biggest retailer, said this month that revenue rose almost 23 percent from a year earlier in December, less than November’s 29 percent growth. O’Key also reported weaker growth, while electronics retailer M.video said same-store sales declined in the fourth quarter.

X5 Retail shares rose 4.8 percent to $18.50 at 8:24 a.m. in London, where the stock has its main listing.

www.freshplaza.com

Outlook for Magnit and X5 Retail Group

Written by

According to retail analysts at Kantar Retail, there is a positive outlook for Magnit and X5 Group from Russia – both retailers are expected to deliver good performances with new store openings planned over the next five years and a focus on multi-channel formats. Magnit is expected to enter the top 20 at number 12 – a big leap from its position at number 25 in the ranking – and sales are estimated to more than double by 2018 to €34.9bn.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

X5 Retail appoints new General Director of Supermarket Format

Written by

X5 Retail Group N.V., a leading Russian food retailer, announced today the appointment of Janus Lella as the Company’s General Director of the Supermarket format effective 1 September 2013.

Mr. Lella has approximately 20 years of managerial and operational experience at the senior executive level with leading Russian and international retailers, including; Castorama, Office Depot, M.video, Yoplait and CPC Amino/Bestfoods. During this time he has been involved in various restructuring programs to improve operational efficiencies and distribution platforms to increase sales and profits.

Mr. Lella replaces Valeriy Tarakanov who will continue to lead X5’s Convenience Store format as well as cooperating on strategic projects to strengthen the Company’s multi-format value proposition.

Magnit announces 30% sales rise

Written by

Russian food retailer Magnit has announced a rise in sales by 30% in June, year-on-year, to stand at 47.5 billion rubles, after a rise of 34.5 percent in May.
Magnit, which recently overtook rival X5 as Russia’s biggest grocery chain by revenue, said the June result brought sales for the first six months of the year to 273 billion rubles, an increase of 31.5 percent.
The company, also Russia’s biggest food retailer by store count, opened 170 stores in June, bringing its total to 7,416.
Magnit has said it planned to grow revenue by between 27 and 29 percent in rouble terms this year, compared with about 34 percent in 2012, backed by a $1.8 billion capital spending programme.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

One more Zelenij Perekrestok supermarket

Written by

June 28, 2013, X5 Retail Group launched a 15th supermarket “Zelenij Perekrestok” (290 square meters) in the shopping center in the multifunctional complex “Moscow”. As it was stated – range of products will be more than 3,500 items in this supermarket.

In the Moscow region there are already 13 “Zelenij Perekrestok” supermarkets, one in Rostov-on-Don and one in St. Petersburg.

Source: www.retailer.ru

Verny entering Yekaterinburg

Written by

Verny, the federal-level network of grocery stores is entering Yekaterinburg, where 10 discount stores will open under this brand by the end of 2013. The chain was founded by the ex co-owner of X5 Retail Group, Andrey Rogachev, in July 2012. As PMR reported in February, in Q4 2012 Verny launched 33 stores in Moscow, Moscow Province, St. Petersburg and Leningrad Province. The company has announced around 130 new openings throughout the country.

Source: www.russiaretail.com

X5 Retail Group: centralizing the managment was a mistake

Written by

X5 Retail Group said that centralizing the management of all the formats was a mistake.

Now, the company has finished the separation of management functions of  “Karusel”, “Perekrestok” and “Pyaterochka.”

According to newspaper “Vedomosti”, all X5 Retail Group supermarkets will share legal, financial, and security departments, but each format will have its own logistics and commercial departments.

Source: www.retailer.ru

X5 posts lower profit

Written by

Russian retailer X5 Retail Group N.V. posted lower profit for the first quarter, but net sales rose from last year.
The group’s net profit for the quarter slipped to $65.1 million from $66.3 million a year ago. Profit before tax slid to $86.6 million from $90.3 million. However, EBITDA rose 3.7 percent to $284.2 million.

Net sales, in US Dollars terms, rose 7.5 percent to $4.160 billion. However, net sales, in RUR terms, grew 8.0 percent, which the group primarily attributed it to an 8.1 percent increase in net retail sales, resulting from organic store additions, price inflation, the positive performance of maturing stores added over the past two years and on-going promotional activities.

Source: www.freshplaza.com