Russia's biggest food retailer Magnit said on Monday its sales rose by 25.2 percent in January, year-on-year, to 51.7 billion roubles ($1.5 billion), after a rise of 23 percent in the previous month.
Magnit, which last year overtook rival X5 as Russia's No.1 grocery chain by revenue, said it opened 36 stores last month, bringing its total to 8,129.
"Despite significantly lower food inflation in January 2014 ... compared to January 2013 .., sales growth in the first month of this year conforms to our guidance," CEO Sergei Galitsky said in a statement.
The company earlier cut its full-year 2014 sales growth forecast to 22-24 percent from 25 percent due to a lower inflation outlook and as an economic slowdown started to hurt consumer confidence.
