OREANDA-NEWS. On 21 July 2009 was announced, that JSC "The Seventh Continent" (further referred to as the Company) 1H 2009 trade sales in RURle terms increased 13% YoY. 2Q 2009 sales growth 14%.

Based on management accounts the Company's 1H 2009 gross retail sales reached 23 753 mn. Rubles and 2Q 2009 gross retail sales reached 12 286 mn. Rubles.

1H 2009 Like-For-Like sales (LFL) increased 4.8%, driven by traffic growth of 1.7% and average ticket growth of 3.1%. 2Q 2009 like-for-like sales (LFL) increased 7.2% with traffic increasing 6.4% and average ticket increasing 0.7%.

As of the end of 1H 2009 the selling space of the Company's stores under the brands "The Seventh Continent", "Nash Hypermarket" and "Prostore" accounts for 177.2 th. sq. m. and increased 5% compared to end of 1H 2008.

During the 1H 2009 the Company opened 2 supermarkets and 1 hypermarket. Total selling space of the opened stores accounts for 11.9 th. sq. m. In the same period the Company closed two supermarkets and 1 hypermarket due to poor financial results.