Russian retailer X5 Retail Group said that its adjusted EBITDA rose to 7.2% in full-year 2018, as the business reported ‘sustainable growth’ for the year.
The retailer made the announcement as it published its 2018 Annual Report, in which it said that it grew revenue by 16.9% year-on-year and delivered positive like-for-like sales in the fourth quarter of the year.
X5 improved its grow margin by 30 basis points for the year to 24.1%, thanks to ‘more effective management of [promotions]’ as well as ‘successful measures introduced by the new team at Pyaterochka to control shrinkage that started to yield results from the third quarter’.
Sustainable Growth
"I am pleased to report another quarter of sustainable growth, which X5 has achieved by staying true to our mission of putting customers at the centre and adapting our business to meet their needs,” X5 chief executive, Igor Shekhterman.
"We operated in an environment of low inflation and weak consumer confidence stemming from flat real income growth during nearly all of 2018. Nonetheless, X5 continued to deliver on its strategic priorities: we grew our market share by revenue to 10.7% despite scaling back our store expansion programme to focus on more balanced growth.”
Last year, the group expanded the online platform for its Perekstrok banner to St. Petersburg, as well as opened two new dark stores to increase its e-commerce capabilities.
Looking ahead to the coming year, the group said that it planned to continue its ‘three-layered strategy’ of implementing measures to strengthen its business, and transform X5 Retail Group into a ‘next-generation’ retailer.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
