OREANDA-NEWS. DIXY neighborhood stores sales growth accelerated in the 51st week of the year, while traditionally the largest sales occurred on December 30-31. The turnover of the last days of the year 2014 exceeded the average daily December sales by 60%.

Composing their New Year menu, the customers of DIXY neighborhood stores preferred traditional dishes. This is proved by sales growth of traditional ingredients for New Year salads: sales of potato, eggs and poultry increased by 50%, the turnover of mayonnaise, herring and beet more than doubled. New Year menu also included exotic fruit - pineapples and mangos - their sales increased 17-fold; and citrus fruit - the demand for tangerines demonstrated eight-fold growth, for oranges - went up 2.5 times.

Champagne and sparkling wines were the leaders on sales in alcohol category; sales of these subcategories started to grow one week before the holidays and by the year-end increased 6.5 times. In anticipation of the holidays DIXY also expanded the range of strong alcoholic beverages under exclusive private brands. Domestically produced vodka "Zakaznaya" and "Rossiysky five-year cognac" 5* appeared on the shelves of the stores. As a result of the extended assortment of private label products the share of DIXY's private label in the alcohol category increased by 8.5% in December 2014 as compared to the previous year.

Victoria division: customers chose in-store-cooked dishes

During the New Year holidays, not only goods of the regular supermarkets' assortment demonstrated acceleration of sales growth, but cooked-in-store dishes as well. December sales of appetizers, hot dishes, bakery food and desserts went up by almost 30% compared to average monthly figures, and increased by 13% year-on-year. These results indicate the growing confidence of the customers in the dishes prepared in Victoria's stores. December sales of popular salad "Olivier" exceeded the comparable figures of December 2013 by 60%; sales of "Ciabatta" bread - by 14%; sales of salmon steaks - by 9%.

The turnover of champagne increased 2.5 times in December 2014; whiskey - by 70%; vodka, which demonstrated the third largest acceleration of sales growth among alcoholic beverages, - by 20%.

Megamart division: after a feast - active rest

The customers of Megamart did traditional food shopping during the last week of the year. The demand for tangerines increased 16 times in December 2014; while sales of confectionery and sweets doubled, and turnover of sparkling wines increased 2.5 times.

Moreover, popular appetizers and salads cooked-in-store demonstrated significant sales growth. The sales of "Olivier with ham" doubled, while the sales of "dressed herring" increased by 66% in December 2014 compared to the average monthly sales figures.

The citizens of the Ural region spent their New Year holidays actively - notably, at the beginning of the year 2015 the customers of compact hypermarkets purchased "winter activity" goods: sales of the sleds and snowcats tripled, while sales of barbecue sets doubled compared to the beginning of winter.

OJSC DIXY Group (MOEX: DIXY) is one of Russia's leading retailers of foods and everyday products.

The first DIXY store was opened in Moscow in 1999, and after that the Company has been experiencing the period of the intensive organic development, followed by the major acquisition of Victoria Group in June 2011.

As of November 30, 2014, the Company operated 2,127 stores, including 2,000 DIXY neighborhood stores, 92 Victoria stores, 1 CASH store, and 34 compact hypermarkets Megamart and Minimart.

The Company operates in Central, Northwest, Volga and Urals federal districts of Russia, and in Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad region.

As of November 30, 2014, the Company had a total of 724,201 square meters of selling space.

The Company is the third largest national food retailer by revenue, selling area, and number of stores. The Company employs over 50,000 people.

In May 2007, the Company raised USD 360 mln in its IPO on the RTS and MICEX. A controlling stake of 54.4% in OJSC DIXY Group is owned by Mercury Group of Companies, a diversified holding company.

In 2013, the Company's total revenue amounted to RUR 180 bln (USD 5.7 bln).

The Russian business magazine Expert rates DIXY Group as one of the Top-100 largest Russian companies.