Magnit Russia small store

Food retailer Magnit showed strong growth in the third quarter of the year, as its store opening programme helped boost sales.

According to The Moscow Times, third quarter net profit nearly doubled to US$200m (€154m), boosted by sales growth to US$3.5bn (€2.7bn).

Earning before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared 60 per cent to US$383m (€295m) for the three-month period ended September 2012.

This resulted in the group's nine-month sales result jumping to US$10.3bn (€7.9bn), with store numbers totalling 6,119 compared with the 4,767 open during the same period of 2011.

Net profit for the opening nine months of the year came in at US$539.9m (€416m), up 123 per cent on 2011.