Russia's largest grocery chain, X5 Retail Group, saw first quarter 2011 net profit rise 23 percent year-on-year to $96.9 million to IFRS, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Analysts expected the grocer's Q1 net profit to fall 5 percent to $72 million.
The group's net sales in the first quarter of 2011 jumped 51 percent to $3.845 billion, the company said in a statement.
The firm's net sales growth is due to a 12 percent increase in like-for-like sales, a 17 percent growth from new stores and a 19 percent contribution from the recently acquired Kopeyka stores, X5 said.
X5's EBITDA amounted to $281 million, while EBITDA margin hit 7.3 percent. The company's gross profit reached $914 million, while gross margin totalled 23.8 percent.
"X5's results this quarter reflect three major priorities: profit margin improvement, stepped up organic growth and launch of the fast-tracked integration of Kopeyka," X5 Retail Group CEO Andrei Gusev said.
MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti)
