Russia's X5 Retail Group has posted a 26.4% increase in net retail sales for the first quarter of the year. Like-for-like sales were up 7.3%.
The group said that performance 'remained strong' despite slowing food price inflation in the country, with like-for-like trade positive across all its major formats.
It added close to 249,000 square metres of new space in the first quarter of the year, as well as opening a new distribution centre in Orel to serve the Pyaterochka format, and a new DC in Yekaterinburg to serve the Perekrestok and Karusel formats.
Some 96 Pyaterochka stores were refurbished in Q1 2017 as part of X5’s investment
programme to upgrade existing stores.
The company said that Pyaterochka was the main driver of growth in the quarter, with net retail sales rising by 30.1%. In addition, Perekrestok’s net retail sales continued to grow at a strong pace, up 19.8% for the quarter.
X5 added 630 net new stores in the first quarter of 2017, compared to 377 in the same period last year.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
