Publications
15.01.10
X5 2009 Retail Sales +25% On Yr; Sees Similar Growth In 2010
X5 Retail Group NV (FIVE.LN), Russia's biggest grocer by revenue, Tuesday reported 25% growth in sales for 2009 as it opened new stores and customers continued to favor its discount strores.
London-listed X5, controlled by conglomerate Alfa Group, said sales rose to 275.18 billion rubles ($8.67 billion) from RUB219.82 billion in 2008.
The retailer said it now expects 2010 pro-forma growth to be comparable to last year's, but that this would depend on the timing of a recovery in consumer spending.
Russian media have reported that consumer spending picked up in December ahead of the country's New Year Holidays, improving significantly from a year earlier.
Fourth-quarter revenue grew 23% on the year. The last three months of the year accounted for almost 30% of the group's full-year revenue, a much larger proportion than in 2008 when the recession took hold.
X5's same-store sales for the fourth quarter advanced by 7% on the year, but customers continued to shun X5's more pricer supermarkets in favor of soft discounter Pyaterochka.
The group derives almost half of its revenue from these cheaper stores, which recorded a 12% growth in footfall, outweighing the effect of fewer customers to its supermarkets. X5 in December completed the acquisition of retail chain Paterson, contributing to the 155 stores that the group added in the last three months of the year, bringing the total to 1,372.
X5's stock was trading up 1.1% at $34.38 after the results were released, with Renaissance Capital saying that the revenue growth was higher than expected and ought to continue to support the stock.
"The trend is very good," said analyst Ulyana Lenvalskaya, predicting strong revenue growth in the coming months.
Dow Jones International News, 19.01.2010