OREANDA-NEWS. July 28, 2014. Detsky Mir Group (hereinafter referred to as "Detsky Mir" or "the Group"), Russia's largest children's goods retailer, announces its unaudited operating results for 1H 2014 ended on 30 June 2014.

KEY OPERATING RESULTS FOR 1H 2014

The Group's revenue has increased by 26.9%, to RUB 18.1bn, vs RUB 14.3bn in 1H 2013.

Detsky Mir's like-for-like sales gained 18.1% (with the number of checks growing by 13.1%, and the average check growing by 4.5%);

The number of stores in the Group increased to 265 as a result of 14 new stores opened in 1H 2014, including 9 new Detsky Mir stores and 5 ELC stores

Vladimir Chirakhov, CEO of Detsky Mir Group:

"Detsky Mir continues implementing its strategy for improving business efficiency. The main operational improvements performed in 2013 had a positive impact on the 2014 results. Such improvements were introduced in assortment management, merchandising and pricing.

In 1H 2014 the Group opened 14 new stores, including 9 DM stores and 5 ELC stores. 5 out of the 14 new stores were opened in the Moscow region. In general, we expect to open at least 40 DM stores and 10 ELC stores by the end of the year. As is customary, most of the openings are scheduled for the second half of the year. In particular, we are focused on rolling out stores in our new concept, which was first presented in December 2013 in the MEGA Belaya Dacha shopping mall. We already have 4 stores operating in the new concept, and plan to have 10 of them by the end of the year. On top of that, every new DM store opened contains elements of the new concept, which becomes an additional factor stimulating growth in both traffic and the number of items in the average check.

Revenue in 1H 2014 grew by 27% YoY. The high growth rate largely results from high LFL sales: LFL growth totalled 18.1%, mostly due to the growth in the number of checks by 13.1%. This highlights the organic nature of our growth on the back of influx of new customers and an increase in repeat sales to our loyal base."