OREANDA-NEWS. January 27, 2010. X5 Retail Group N.V. (“Company”), Russia’s largest retailer in terms of sales (LSE ticker: “FIVE”), announced that it has successfully completed the pilot launch of SAP for Retail in Nizhniy Novgorod and begun the system roll-out to all other regions of its operations, to be completed by end of 2010.

Currently, over 60 X5 stores in the Nizhniy Novgorod region utilize SAP for Retail as a unified IT platform for all operations related to managing stores, supplier relationships and logistics. X5 is pleased to note that it earned SAP’s number one ranking for "Highest Quality SAP for Retail Implementation in CIS" in recognition of the pilot launch’s success.

X5 has chosen to implement SAP as its enterprise resource planning system. The introduction is being conducted in stages. The first phase is the introduction of SAP for Retail, which will be finalized by the end of 2010. Two further stages involve the introduction of SAP HCM (SAP for HR) and SAP for Enterprise Management.

Teimur Shternlib, Deputy CEO for Business Support of X5 Retail Group, commented:

"The success of the pilot launch was due to strong teamwork by X5's project team and our integrators and consultants from GMCS. Over the next few years, SAP will add to the Company’s competitive advantages, enhancing process efficiency across every aspect of our business from store operations to strategic planning. We expect that the new system will provide X5 with a strong platform for scalable expansion, drive Company-wide efficiency gains and position X5 for long-term leadership and profitable growth."

Daniel Holz, Sales Director, SAP CIS, commented on the successful cooperation:

"We appreciate the confidence of X5 Retail Group that chose our solutions for the development of its business. The successful implementation of the SAP for Retail industrial solution is important both for the retail market in Russia, where our solutions have already proved themselves, and for our company. We believe that our solutions will help the company's responsible executives effectively manage growth of its store chains and quickly respond to any economic changes".