OREANDA-NEWS. December 4, 2012. X5 Retail Group N.V., X5 Retail Group N.V., (“X5” or the “Company”), Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales (LSE ticker symbol: FIVE), has been recognized as a leader in corporate charity in the Russian Federation. X5, along with 52 other major Russian companies,participated in the “Corporate Charity Leaders – 2012Fifth Annual Awards Ceremony”.X5’s charitable project “Perekrestok – Crossroads of Life” was among the winners in the category, “Best Program Contributing to the Development of Volunteer Activities in Russia”; it was also the best project involving corporate employees assistingchildren with serious illnesses.

Corporate Charity Leaders is a joint project of the non-profit partnership Donors’ Forum, Vedomosti newspaper and PricewaterhouseCoopers aimed at supporting, developing and promoting corporate charities. The project’s goal is to identify the best corporate charitable programs and to attract the attention of society, business, governemnt and the media to corporate charity issues in Russia.

X5’s philanthropic acitivities are a key element of the Company’s social policy and the charitable strategy is aimed at improving the lives of seriously ill children. To help these children, X5’s Perekrestok and Karusel retail chains collect cash donations from customers in all Russian regions where their stores are located. The donations are then transferred to “Life Line”, a charitable fund that provides assistance to children with serious illnesses. Many of the Company’s employees also act as Life Line volunteers.

During the past six months, the Company has participated in a number of charitable events including, the 5272 Charity Run in which over 200 X5 employees took part. In October 2012, Moscow and St. Petersburg Perekrestok supermarkets participated in the Nobody’s Life Is Too Small to Change charitable program where Life Line volunteers installed special stands to collect small change in Perekrestok stores. The result was six tons of donated small change totaling RUR 900,000. The funds were spent to finance the treatment of severely ill children.

Mikhail Susov, Corporate Relations Director, X5 Retail Group commented:

“We want to give children the opportunity to be happy and healthy and our charitable projects will focus on helping children with serious illnesses and developing a cultural of charitable giving in Russia. We hope that in 2013 our customers will share in the pleasure that these acts of kindness bring.”

Headquartered in Moscow, X5 Retail Group (LSE: FIVE, Moody's - "B2", S&P - "B+") is Russia's largest retailer in terms of revenue. The Company operates several retail formats: the soft discounter chain under the Pyaterochka brand, the supermarket chain under the Perekrestok brand, the hypermarket chain under the Karusel brand, the online retail channel under E5.ru brand and convenience stores under various brands.

At 30 September 2012, X5 had 3,472 Company-operated stores. It has the leading market position in both Moscow and St. Petersburg and a significant presence in the European part of Russia. Its store base includes 2,936 soft discounter stores, 350 supermarkets, 76 hypermarkets and 110 convenience stores. The Company operates 28 DCs and 1,854 Company-owned trucks across the Russian Federation.

X5 is run on an SAP platform.

At 30 September 2012, X5’s direct franchisees operated 404 stores across Russia.

At 30 September 2012, the number of X5 employees totaled 102 thousand.

For the full year 2011, net sales totaled USD 15,455 mln, EBITDA reached USD 1,130 mln, and net profit amounted to USD 302 mln. For the nine months of 2012, net sales totaled USD 11,475 mln, EBITDA reached USD 774 mln and net profit amounted to USD 147 mln.

X5 Shareholder structure is as follows: Alfa Group - 47.86%, founders of Pyaterochka - 19.85%, X5 Directors - 0.13%, treasury shares - 0.11%, free float - 32.05%.