OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2012. X5 Retail Group N.V. (“X5” or the “Company”), Russia's largest retailer in terms of revenue (LSE ticker: “FIVE”), announced today the Company’s preliminary consolidated net retail sales and operational performance for the second quarter (Q2) and first half (H1) of 2012.

Q2 2012 Highlights

H1 2012 Highlights

•           Consolidated net retail sales (sales) increased 10.0% year-on-year (y-o-y) in Rouble (RUR) terms to RUR 123,446 million (mln);

•           Sales increased y-o-y by 11.1% due to organic expansion, which was offset by a 1.1% decrease in LFL sales;

•           Soft discounters LFL sales increased by 2.1% y-o-y;

•           In June 2012, total LFL sales increased by 2.9%, driven by a 6.5% increase in soft discounters LFL sales;

159 stores were added on a net basis, including the opening of 148 soft discounters, four supermarkets, 19 convenience stores and 12 store closures;

Net addition of 50 thousand square meters (sq. m.) of selling space.

•           Sales increased by 7.2% y-o-y to RUR 240,325 mln;

•           Sales increased y-o-y by 9.7% due to organic expansion, which was offset by a 2.5% decrease in LFL sales;

296 stores were added on a net basis, including the opening of 274 soft discounters, 11 supermarkets, 35 convenience stores and 24 store closures;

Net addition of 93 thousand sq. m. of selling space.

X5RETAILGR0UP

Expansion

 

 

Net Added

 

% change

 

% change

 

30-Jun-12

H1 2012

31-Dec-11

vs 31-Dec-11

30-Jun-11

vs 30-Jun-11

Selling Space, sq. m.

Hypermarkets

371,293

-

371,293

0.0%

342,545

8.4%

Supermarkets

358,751

11,485

347,266

3.3%

320,611

11.9%

Soft Discounters

1,071,936

75,882

996,055

7.6%

931,104

15.1%

Convenience stores

18,061

5,389

12,671

42.5%

10,271

75.8%

X5 Retail Group Total

1,820,041

92,756

1,727,285

5.4%

1,604,530

13.4%

# of Stores

Hypermarkets

77

-

77

0.0%

70

10.0%

Supermarkets

341

11

330

3.3%

307

11.1%

Soft Discounters

2,783

258

2,525

10.2%

2,252

23.6%

Convenience stores

97

27

70

38.6%

54

79.6%

X5 Retail Group Total

3,298

296

3,002

9.9%

2,683

22.9%

In Q2 2012, X5 added a net 159 stores, including 140 soft discounters, four supermarkets, 15 convenience stores and 12 store closures resulting in a 50,487 sq. m. net increase in total selling space. In H1 2012, net selling space increased by 92,756 sq. m., or 5.4%, as compared to total net selling space at 31 December 2011.

The increase was focused on additions of new soft discounters in other regions, which accounted for approximately half of the selling space additions, as well as the Central and Northwest Regions.

Our y-o-y selling space increased by a net 215,511 sq. m., or 13.4%, which drove sales growth of 15.4%, y-o-y, in June 2012. The increase in Q2 2012 selling space was primarily driven by additions at our soft discounters, which increased by 15.1% y-o-y.

As at 30 June 2012, X5 operated 3,298 stores (1,820 thousand sq. m. of selling space) and was present in 607 locations of European Russia, the Urals and Ukraine.