X5 Retail Regulatory News (FIVE)

10 Jul 2007 07:00

X5 Retail Group N.V.10 July 2007 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN, INTO OR FROM AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN 10 July 2007 X5 RETAIL GROUP N.V. Q2 2007 TRADING UPDATE GROUP LIKE-FOR-LIKE SALES UP +18% IN ROUBLE TERMS (24% IN USD TERMS) AROUND 20,000 SQ.M. OF NET SELLING SPACE ADDED Amsterdam, 10 July 2007 - X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest food retailerin terms of sales (LSE ticker: "FIVE"), today provided a trading update on apro-forma basis including store opening data and Like-for-Like ("LFL") salestrends for Q2 2007. Growth X5 Retail Group N.V. gained additional net selling space of over 20,000 squaremetres in Q2 2007, comprising 4,400 square metres for the Perekriostok chain and15,618 square metres for the Pyaterochka chain. As of 30 June 2007, X5 RetailGroup N.V. operated 516,328 square metres of total net selling space. In terms of numbers of stores, the Group opened 33 new Pyaterochka soft-discountstores and 3 new Perekrestok supermarkets during Q2 2007. As a result, as of 30June 2007, X5 Retail Group N.V. operated 539 company managed Pyaterochkasoft-discount stores and 170 Perekrestok stores. During Q2 2007, Pyaterochka'sfranchisees opened 58 new stores. As of 30 June 2007, franchisees operated 591Pyaterochka branded stores across Russia and Kazakhstan. Perekrestok had 10stores operated by franchisees in the Moscow area. Store opening progress (net selling space, sq.m.) in Q2 2007 Moscow St. Petersburg Russian regions Total Q2 2007 Total as of and Ukraine 30.06.2007Perekrestok 1,200 1,600 1,600 4,400 218,917Pyaterochka 5,232 5,714 4,672 15,618 297,411X5 6,432 7,314 6,272 20,018 516,328 Andrei Rybakov, X5 Retail Group Head of Development commented: "Having added approximately 50,000 sq.m. of net selling space so far this year,we are comfortably on track to achieve our year end target of adding 150,000sq.m. to our selling space in 2007, given the seasonality of our new storeopening operations. In addition to the on-going store opening efforts, we havemade significant progress to secure future years "pipeline" of projects,including development of land bank for our hypermarkets and shopping centres,set up of X5 Development operations and progress in building up logistics andwarehouse infrastructure in line with our strategic plans." Store Operations During Q2 2007, X5 Retail Group N.V. further enhanced the already strongLike-for-Like sales trends across all chains and regions compared to Q1 2007.Like-for-Like sales are measured in Roubles and applicable to stores operationalmore than one year in the reporting period. LfL sales trends in Q2 2007 vs Q2 2006 Total Traffic Basket Like-for-LikeMoscow: Pyaterochka 22% 11% 11%Moscow: Perekrestok 24% 21% 3%Moscow: X5 Retail Group 23% 15% 8% St. Petersburg: Pyaterochka 9% 1% 8%St. Petersburg: Perekrestok 19% 16% 3%St. Petersburg: X5 Retail Group 10% 2% 8% Regions: Pyaterochka 41% 18% 23%Regions: Perekrestok 11% 11% 0%Regions: X5 Retail Group 16% 13% 3% Total X5 Retail Group 18% 10% 8% Antonio Melo, X5 Retail Group COO, commented: "Our store operations show strong results across formats, especially in the coreMoscow area market. In St. Petersburg, Russia's most competitive market, wecontinued to maintain positive traffic in Pyaterochka stores due to a series ofinitiatives that followed the merger last year, including increased advertisingbudgets, optimisation of the product range and restyling of the stores. Another important achievement was a significant improvement of LfL salesperformance of our regional network as a result of our regional expansionefforts. In particular we are pleased with the performance of our stores in theUrals region, which strongly benefited from the integration into our chain. Overall, an increase of 10% in number of customers in our LfL storesdemonstrates that the chain has been making a clear progress in continuousimprovement of its customer appeal and store value proposition. Strong LfL salesperformance, combined with an integration effort and a strong national currencyare building a solid basis to meet our key financial objectives in 2007 andbeyond." - End - Note to Editors: X5 Retail Group N.V. is Russia's largest food retailer in terms of sales. As of30 June 2007, the Group had 539 company-managed "Pyaterochka" soft discountstores located in the Moscow (241), St. Petersburg (223) and other Russian areas(75), and 170 company managed "Perekrestok" supermarkets across Central Russiaand Ukraine, including 98 stores in Moscow. As of 30 June 2007, franchisees operated 591 Pyaterochka branded stores acrossRussia and Kazakhstan. Perekrestok had 10 stores operated by franchisees in theMoscow area. Pyaterochka and Perekrestok have merged their operations as of 18 May 2006 tocreate the clear leader in the Russian food retail market. The Group's audited pro-forma net sales for the FY 2006 were US $3,551 million,up +50% vs. 2005. Pyaterochka chain provided US $1,973 million of net sales, thePerekrestok chain contributed US $1,496 million of net sales, and Merkado chaincontributed US $ 82 million. Forward looking statements: This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identifiedby the fact that they do not only relate to historical or current events.Forward-looking statements often use words such as" anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "expected", "plan", "goal" believe", or otherwords of similar meaning. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty becausethey relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are beyond X5Retail Group N.V.'s control. As a result, actual future results may differmaterially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in theseforward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of X5 Retail Group N.V.speak only as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by anyapplicable laws or regulations, X5 Retail Group N.V. undertakes no obligationpublicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-lookingstatements in this document that may occur due to any change in its expectationsor to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document. Enquiries to: X5 Retail Group N.V. Gennady Frolov Head of Corporate Communications Office +7 495 950 5577 ext. 10130 Mobile +7 495 998 3335 Email gennady.frolov@x5.ru This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange