OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2009. X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales (LSE ticker: “FIVE”), today announced its IFRS results for the quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2009, reviewed by auditors.

2010 Preliminary Expansion & CapEx Outlook

• Net new store addition:

- Hypermarkets: 7-10 stores;

- Supermarkets: 15 stores;

- Discounters: 200-250 stores.

X5 Retail Group CEO Lev Khasis commented:

"X5 delivered solid top-line growth thanks to sector-leading customer traffic for discounters and positive trends at hypermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as we maintained price leadership and offered quality products for every budget. While consumer confidence remains weak, we are actively positioning X5 to benefit from future economic recovery through a balanced execution of like-for-like growth strategy and stepped up expansion. We plan to accelerate store additions in discounters, maintain healthy expansion in hypermarkets, while with the acquisition of Paterson, we also reinforced our supermarket leadership in key markets, adding to the Company’s upside potential."

X5 Retail Group CFO Evgeny Kornilov added:

"X5’s financial discipline and efficiency focus is paying off, contributing to a strong set of results.

We have substantially improved performance at the SG&A expense level, though the impact of these savings was partially offset this quarter by higher ESOP expense attributable to sharp appreciation of X5’s GDR price. Net of ESOP, we reduced SG&A expense as a percent of sales by 270 basis points compared to last year’s third quarter and 160 basis points versus the first nine months of 2008. We have also exceeded our plan for growing selling space this year while staying well below plan on capital expenditures. Greater CapEx efficiency gave us room to maneuver for consolidation opportunities, positioning X5 to acquire Paterson on very value enhancing terms while financing this acquisition from operating cash flow."