Dixy posts 120% Q1 net profit rise

Russian food retailer Dixy saw its first-quarter IFRS net profit rise 120 percent year-on-year to 356 million rubles ($12 million), the company said on Monday. The retailer’s net profit was slightly below a forecast of analysts polled by Prime news agency who expected Dixy’s net financial result to reach 381.7 million rubles. The company’s consolidated revenues for the quarter grew by 93.1 percent to 34.7 billion rubles ($1.1 billion), matching analysts’ expectations. EBITDA for the first quarter of 2012 increased by 111.9 percent year-on-year to 2.1 billion rubles (($70 million) while EBITDA margin rose by 0.5 percent to 6.1 percent of sales from 5.6 percent in the same period last year. “In the first quarter of 2012, Dixy Group continued to implement marketing initiatives on optimization of assortment and floor space, improvement of external and internal design of stores and their clearer positioning, as well as on improvement in customer service and marketing communications,” the company said. “These efforts have led to a 4.4 percent increase in like-for-like sales for the core Dixy format, and to a 4.7 percent increase in average ticket,” Dixy said. As of March 31, 2012, the company operated 1,169 stores.