OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2013. OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding (Rosinter), the leading casual dining restaurant  chain in Russia and CIS (Moscow Exchange MICEX – RTS ticker: ROST), announces its trade update for 4 Q  and  12 M 2012
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The release is published at  www.rosinter.com
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2012  consolidated  net operating  revenue increased y – o - y by 2.6 % to RUB 10,132 mln
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During 4Q 2012 same store transaction decline slowed slightly to 2.7% compared to 3.3% for the 12M  2012. We additionally took action through Q4 menu launches to stimulate average spend.

Our  network totaled 408 outlets as at December 31 2012:

380 casual dining restaurants and  28 Costa Coffee shops.

Kevin Todd, President and Chi ef Executive Officer, commented:
“One of my most important tasks when I joined Rosinter has been to complement our existing 
Team and achieve the appropriate blend of expertise, international and local experience to address the challenges that our business has been facing. I am pleased to say that we have already completed our top management team and that we  have already the right people in the right place. They are all seasoned professionals, know well what needs to be done and they are very excited about the growth opportunity that lies ahead for us once we complete successfully this business turnaround stage and build the foundation for a profitable growth in our ample geography.

In our team we all know very well that in big chains like ours, 408 outlets by end 2012, we cannot afford to run fast and rollout initiatives throughout our corporate and franchised network until we have got them “right” in order to avoid mistakes that could be very costly to fix afterwards. This is why we are approaching one of the core strategy components, the IL Patio and Planet Sushi brand revitalization, with a very structured process to ensure that we will only rollout commercially the concepts once they have been tested, have proven that they will be successful in the medium term and that they will bring the right level of return on investment. In addition to this, we also know by experience how critical it is to have an optimal portfolio of assets, this is why we have focused in 2H 2012 and 2013 our new development on our successful transportation hubs business and Costa Coffee and we have given a high priority to the task of restructuring our existing corporate estate. Although both activities take some time to be completed and impact our results in the short term, we firmly believe that they are strictly necessary to build a sustainable profitable growth in the medium term.

While we have been progressing with our brand revitalization project that has already opened its first test store in Moscow mid December, a Genesis IL Patio, we are also addressing our store revenue dynamic with a combined effort of our marketing and operations teams and we believe that over time this will bear results for us. We have set up for 2013 a marketing program focused on menu innovations, targeted promotional campaigns and a strong local marketing activity, among other initiatives. This program is being complemented by an increased in-store focus  on
areas that will contribute to build sustainable sales with an increased  proactive approach by our restaurant and corporate teams.

Our recently open Genesis pilot store for IL Patio has been an excellent platform and laboratory for our team to test new ideas and initiatives and has brought a very valuable learning that is being used for our three other pilot stores planned to open early 2Q 2013: Planet sushi Genesis, IL Patio Next Generation, and Planet Sushi Next Generation. In addition to these 4 test stores, during 2H 2013 we plan to open more test restaurants in Moscow and in Regions to ensure that they work well in different geographies and type of locations before we proceed to a commercial rollout though our current IL Patio and Planet  Sushi corporate and franchised network.

I firmly believe that having the right people and expertise in place, with clear alignment on what needs to be done, and by executing with enthusiasm and systematically our strategic plan we will be able to transform Rosinter (ROST) in next 3 years into a stable, profitable, scalable and predictable operation with compelling brands and culture that excite our guests and builds up sustainable EBITDA and value  growth for our shareholders”.