But costs associated with buying the Victoria chain ate into earnings, which fell sharply in the fourth quarter, Dixy said on Friday.
Russia's food retail chains have expanded rapidly in recent years and are battling to lure shoppers who often have a choice of three or four supermarkets in the same street in bigger cities.
Dixy, which became Russia's third-largest home-grown grocer by revenues when it bought Victoria in 2011, said same-store sales grew 5 percent year-on-year between January and March, adding to a rise of nearly 4 percent in the preceding quarter.
While the result was helped by rising food prices, the number of bills - an indicator of customer flows - also turned positive, Dixy said, after a fall in the previous quarter.
That meant it took market share away from both of its bigger local rivals, Magnit (MGNTq.L) (MGNT.MM) and X5 (PJPq.L), which saw customer traffic tumble.
But a spike in financing costs in the fourth quarter meant Dixy's net income fell 14 percent to 271 million roubles, and the firm's share price fell 3.2 percent, lagging the broader market.
Analysts have said Dixy's bottom line might have hit a trough in the fourth quarter and expect to see tentative improvements in earnings as early as the first quarter.
"We anticipate the company turning the corner in 2H13, with its sales strengthening, (and profit) margins improving," brokerage Otkritie said in a note.
The margin, pressured by a higher proportion of recently opened stores as well as the cost of integrating Victoria, slid to 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter from 6.6 percent a year earlier.
Dixy had 1,544 stores at the end of March. Including those opened after January 2012, sales rose 21.9 percent year-on-year to 42.3 billion roubles ($1.36 billion) in the first three months of this year.
Dixy increased its borrowings last year to refinance debt it had raised to buy Victoria. Its financing costs jumped 77.2 percent in the fourth quarter to 810 million roubles.
