Amsterdam, 20 March 2019 – X5 Retail Group N.V. (“X5” or the “Company”), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE and MOEX ticker: FIVE), today released its 2018 Annual Report, including audited consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as adopted in the European Union.
X5 Chief Executive Officer Igor Shekhterman said:
“I am pleased to report another quarter of sustainable growth, which X5 has achieved by staying true to our mission of putting customers at the centre and adapting our business to meet their needs: in a challenging macro environment with increasing competition, we grew revenue by 16.9% year-on-year and delivered positive LFL performance at the group level for Q4 2018. We improved our gross margin by 30 b.p. year-on-year to 24.1%, thanks to more effective management of promo and successful measures introduced by the new team at Pyaterochka to control shrinkage that started to yield results from the third quarter.
“We operated in an environment of low inflation and weak consumer confidence stemming from flat real income growth during nearly all of 2018. Nonetheless, X5 continued to deliver on its strategic priorities: we grew our market share by revenue to 10.7% despite scaling back our store expansion programme to focus on more balanced growth. We saw Perekrestok Online, one of several key omnichannel initiatives within the Company, expand to St Petersburg and open two new dark stores to scale up its operations during the year. X5 has also taken the lead on innovations, establishing a Big Data Department at the Corporate Centre and piloting 37 innovative projects in stores during 2018.
“Looking ahead to 2019, we will continue to deliver on our three-layered strategy of implementing measures that will help to strengthen the existing business, developing our innovative capabilities in the medium term, and transforming X5 Retail Group into a next-gen retailer in the long term.”