OREANDA-NEWS. January 30, 2012. OJSC "Magnit" (the "Company"; RTS, MICEX and LSE: MGNT) is pleased to announce its unaudited FY 2011 financial results prepared in accordance with IFRS.

During 2011 the Company added (net) 1,254 stores (1,004 convenience stores, 42 hypermarkets and 208 cosmetics stores) and increased its selling space by 38.51% in comparison to 2010 from 1,422.38 thousand sq. m. to 1,970.16 thousand sq. m. The total store base as of December 31, 2011 reached 5,309 stores (5,006 convenience stores, 93 hypermarkets and 210 cosmetics stores).

Revenue in rubles increased by 42% YoY from 236,193.55 million RUR in 2010 to 335,699.95 million RUR in 2011. The top line growth was due to an increase in selling space as well as to a 11.09% increase of like-for-like sales (excl. VAT). Revenue growth in dollar terms amounted to 47%: from USD 7,777.40 million to USD 11,423.26 million.

Gross margin grew from 22.38% in 2010 to 24.30% in 2011. Gross profit in rubles increased by 54.32% from 52,858.39 million RUR (USD 1,740.53 million) to 81,569.60 million RUR (USD 2,775.67 million).

EBITDA increased by 43.13% from 19,179.96 million RUR (USD 631.56 million) in 2010 to 27,451.99 million RUR (USD 934.14 million) in 2011. EBITDA margin in 2011 amounted to 8.18%.

2011 net income increased by 20.24% and amounted to 12,185.13 million RUR (USD 414.64 million) vs. 10,134.11 million RUR (USD 333.70 million) in 2010.

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

"Dear Ladies and Gentlemen! Our company transits to the advanced publication of the unaudited annual results. We could have announced them together with the audited results in the end of March, but we think that it is important for our investors to receive information as soon as possible; financial and accounting departments enable releasing them by the first of February. At that it is necessary to note that inaccuracy of ± 10 basis points (±0.10%) versus audited results is possible.

As to the published results, I would like to stress that they are better than 2010 results both in sales growth and EBITDA margin, which inspires us with optimism. Of course, on the back of growing comparable base the pace of turnover growth percentage-wise will decline, but day by day we feel greater confidence on the market which is supported by our results.

We thank investors who purchased our securities in challenging times during the December placement and we are proud that we managed to fulfill committed obligations".