OREANDA-NEWS. September 24, 2007. Further to the preliminary results announcement on 17 September, X5 Retail Group N.V. (the Ў§GroupЎЁ), Russia's largest food retailer in terms of sales, today publishes its audited financial results for the first half of 2007.

ѓш Net sales increased by 49% to US$ 2,348 million, which represents an acceleration of growth in comparison to 43% in H1 2006 (pro forma, not including Merkado store operations).

ѓш Gross profit increased to US$ 617 million, up 53% vs. H1 2006.

ѓш Gross profit margin increased from 25.6% to 26.3%.

ѓш EBITDA, including new ESOP launch costs of US$ 22 million, increased to US$ 212 million, or 74% increase vs. H1 2006 (EBITDA before new ESOP launch costs increased to US$ 234 million).

ѓш Profit before tax grew to US$ 93 million to 3.9% of Net sales vs. US$ 33 million or 3.7% in the same period in 2006.

ѓш Net income, including new ESOP costs, more than doubled to US$ 41 million, up from US$ 19 million in H1 2006.
 
Commenting on todayЎ¦s announcement, Vitaliy Podolskiy, Group CFO stated:

Ў§Our audited results confirm the strong performance of the Group in the First Half, with revenue and Gross profit growth maintaining high levels and positive profitability trends.    Strong results were also recorded in Gross Profit and EBITDA, despite the effect of number of one-off factors, related to restructuring of borrowings, ESOP launch, tax structure and depreciation costs.  However, underlying business performance for the Second Half remains very strong and we look forward to reporting our Full Year results in due course.ЎЁ

A conference call to discuss the H1 2007 audited financial will be hosted by Vitaliy Podolskiy today at 17.00 Moscow time / 14.00 UK time / 09.00 East Coast time. To join the call please see the dial-in details below.

Dial-in Number: UK Free Call* Dial In: 0808 238 0678
International Dial In:    + 44 1452 587 436
Russia Toll Free:          810 800 2440 1012
USA Toll Free:      1866 854 5856

ID Code:   18158220