OREANDA-NEWS. October 12, 2011. OJSC "Magnit" (the "Company"; RTS, MICEX and LSE: MGNT) is pleased to announce its unaudited September 2011 results1.

During 9M 2011 the Company opened (net) 712 stores. The total store base reached 4,767 stores (4,593 convenience stores, 76 hypermarkets and 98 cosmetics stores). Preliminary consolidated unaudited net retail revenue (excl. VAT) in 9M 2011 increased by 45.99% in ruble terms (compared to 9M 2010) and stood at 240,107.15 million rubles.

Sergey Galitskiy, the Company's CEO, provided the following comments on the published 9M 2011 results:

"During last three months the Company has been actively working to improve operating efficiency of its business. We see positive trends and will continue to focus on it. At that we do not see any noticeable decline in consumer activity in the third quarter this year. However looking at the sales growth rate data it should be noted that in the third quarter 2011 there was food deflation on the level of -2.7%2. At the same time in the third quarter 2010 food inflation growth rate amounted to 2.9%2.

Thus on the back of this 5.6% difference in inflation it is possible to speak of comparability of sales growth rates in the third quarter 2011 and the third quarter 2010."

September 2011 Key Operating and Financial Highlights:

 

September 2011

September 2010

Growth Rate

9M 2011

9M 2010

Growth Rate

 

Number of opened stores, NET

108

79

n/a

712

465

n/a

 

convenience stores

77

76

n/a

591

454

n/a

 

hypermarkets

2

3

n/a

25

11

n/a

 

cosmetics stores

29

-

n/a

96

-

n/a

 

Total number of stores

4,767

3,693

n/a

4,767

3,693

n/a

 

convenience stores

4,593

3,658

n/a

4,593

3,658

n/a

 

hypermarkets

76

35

n/a

76

35

n/a

 

cosmetics stores

98

-

n/a

98

-

n/a

 

Selling space, thousand sq. m.

1,740.42

1,241.09

40.23%

1,740.42

1,241.09

40.23%

 

convenience stores

1,487.57

1,124.79

32.25%

1,487.57

1,124.79

32.25%

 

hypermarkets

230.35

116.30

98.07%

230.35

116.30

98.07%

 

cosmetics stores

22.50

-

n/a

22.50

-

n/a

 

Number of customers, million

135.81

111.30

22.02%

1,198.66

940.20

27.49%

 

convenience stores

127.46

107.23

18.87%

1,134.81

909.32

24.80%

 

hypermarkets

7.92

4.07

94.49%

62.54

30.88

102.55%

 

cosmetics stores

0.43

-

n/a

1.30

-

n/a

 

Net retail sales, million RUR

26,540.69

19,923.89

33.21%

240,107.15

164,472.34

45.99%

convenience stores

22,528.73

17,817.16

26.44%

208,071.61

148,721.62

39.91%

hypermarkets

3,920.88

2,106.73

86.11%

31,771.39

15,750.72

101.71%

cosmetics stores

91.08

-

n/a

264.15

-

n/a

Net retail sales, million USD 3

869.84

646.11

34.63%

8,346.79

5,436.42

53.53%

convenience stores

738.35

577.79

27.79%

7,233.15

4,915.80

47.14%

hypermarkets

128.50

68.32

88.09%

1,104.46

520.62

112.14%

cosmetics stores

2.98

-

n/a

9.18

-

n/a

LFL Results

LFL growth 9M 2011 - 9M 20104

Convenience stores

Hypermarkets

Total

Average ticket (excluding VAT), RUR

12.26%

6.51%

11.61%

Traffic

2.43%

1.30%

2.39%

Revenue, RUR

14.99%

7.89%

14.29%

LFL growth 3Q 2011 - 3Q 20105

Convenience stores

Hypermarkets

Total

Average ticket (excluding VAT), RUR

9.96%

4.67%

9.44%

Traffic

(1.66)%

(1.27)%

(1.65)%

Revenue, RUR

8.13%

3.35%

7.64%

1          According to management accounts

2          http://gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat/rosstatsite/main/price/#

3          Based on the average exchange rate for September 2011 of 30.5121 RUB per 1 USD, September 2010 - 30.8365 RUB per 1 USD, 9M 2011 - 28.7664 RUB per 1 USD, 9M 2010 - 30.2538 RUB per 1 USD

4          Based on 2,031 convenience stores which were opened by July 1, 2009, and 14 hypermarkets which were opened by May 1, 2009, i.e. based on the result of the convenience stores that had been operating for not less than six months and hypermarkets that had been operating for not less than eight months and have achieved a mature level of sales

5          Based on 2,825 convenience stores which were opened by January 1, 2010, and 22 hypermarkets which were opened by November 1, 2009, i.e. based on the result of the convenience stores that had been operating for not less than six months and hypermarkets that had been operating for not less than eight months and have achieved a mature level of sales