23 Dec 2010 07:01
X5 Retail group Appoints kieran Balfe as chief financial officer
global Consumer industry executive with strong operational experience in russian market
Amsterdam, 23 December 2010 - X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales, announced today that Kieran Balfe will become X5 Group CFO with effect from January 11, 2011, following nomination of the Supervisory Board. His appointment as statutory director shall be placed on the agenda of an extraordinary shareholders meeting to be held in February 2011.
Kieran Balfe has almost two decades of management experience in the Russian market, most recently at Mars Inc., a global leader in branded consumer food, confectionary and pet care products with $30 billion in sales. Following Mars' acquisition of confectionary leader Wrigley, Kieran played a major role in the integration of the two companies' Russian operations to drive efficiencies and leverage global scale and best practices. From 2001 to 2009, Kieran was Wrigley's Deputy General Manager and CFO for Emerging Markets, responsible for corporate finance, strategic business planning, tax, compliance and audit functions with additional experience in managing IT, legal, overseeing a team of 150 people in Russia, Central Asia and other. In addition to managing organic business growth, Kieran participated in Wrigley's acquisition of Russia's premier chocolate company, Korkunov.
Lev Khasis, CEO of X5 Retail Group, said: "Kieran Balfe brings invaluable consumer industry experience and knowledge of global operational best practices to the job of CFO. We plan to accelerate growth significantly in 2011, with record new store openings and integration of the Kopeyka acquisition to build on our number one position, and continued execution of our Strategic Efficiency Program to drive operational excellence and competitive advantages. I look forward to working with Kieran to deliver on our objectives and realize value for X5's shareholders."
Hervé Defforey, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, commented: "Following an extensive search, the Supervisory Board is delighted to welcome Kieran to X5's executive team. His track record combines strong financial management of fast-moving consumer goods businesses and understanding of supply chains with the market knowledge and experience of operating in Russia."
Kieran Balfe, added: "Russia is one of the world's most promising consumer markets and X5 is uniquely positioned for leadership and growth as the country's largest retailer. Having worked at major multi-national suppliers to retailers in Russia, I have tremendous respect for what X5 has achieved in the marketplace and am excited about the opportunities to make this an even stronger company."
Kieran, 41, was born in Ireland and holds a Masters' degree in accountancy from University College, Dublin. He qualified as a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland in 1993 and was awarded his Fellowship (highest professional rank) in 2005. He is fluent in English and Russian and has worked in Russia since 1994, starting as an auditor with Coopers and Lybrand. From 1996 to 2001, he held positions at Glencore, American Home Products and Japan Tobacco.
X5 wishes to thank Anton Volyanskiy for serving with distinction as Acting CFO during the management transition since September 2010. In addition to managing key priorities for the finance function, including cash flow changes resulting from the implementation of the new Retail Law, work to reduce X5's effective tax rate and management of X5's credit facilities and banking relationships, Volyanskiy played important role in executing the Kopeyka transaction and negotiations to secure the best long-term ruble financing arrangements. He now resumes his position as the Company's Deputy CFO and will be working closely with Blafe Kieran and X5's finance team.
For further details please contact | |
Egor Voytenkov Senior IR Manager Tel.: +7 (495) 662-8888, ext. 22 455 e-mail: egor.voytenkov@X5.ru | Svetlana Vitkovskaya Head of PR Department Tel.: +7 (495) 662-8888, ext. 31 140 e-mail: svetlana.vitkovskaya@X5.ru
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Note to Editors:
About X5 Retail Group
X5 Retail Group N.V. is Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales. The Company was created as a result of a merger between Pyaterochka (soft discounter chain) and Perekrestok (supermarket chain) on 18 May 2006. In June 2008, X5 acquired Karusel hypermarket chain and substantially strengthened its position in hypermarket format.
As at 30 September 2010, X5 had 1,630 Company-managed stores located in Moscow,St. Petersburg and other regions of European Russia, Urals and Ukraine, including 1,232 soft discount stores, 289 supermarkets, 65 hypermarkets and 44 convenience stores.
As at 30 September 2010, X5's franchisees operated 632 stores across Russia.
For the full year 2009 X5's net sales totaled USD 8,717 mln, EBITDA reached USD 736 mln, and net profit amounted to USD 165 mln.
For the first nine months 2010, net sales totaled USD 7,798 mln, EBITDA reached USD 593 mln, and net profit amounted to USD 183 mln.
X5 Shareholder structure is as follows: Alfa Group - 47.9%, founders of Pyaterochka - 23.1%, X5 Management - 1.9%, treasury shares - 0.1%, free float - 27.0%.
Forward looking statements:
This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by 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 other words of similar meaning.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are beyond X5 Retail Group N.V.'s control. As a result, actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-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 any applicable laws or regulations, X5 Retail Group N.V. undertakes no obligation publicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this document that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document.