Moscow, 2014-12-11 — /EPR Retail News/ — X5 Retail Group N.V., (“X5” or the “Company”), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE ticker: “FIVE”), announced today the winners of the Nutcracker International Television Contest for Young Musicians (the “Contest”). The Company acted as a general partner of the 15th running of the Contest, which took place in Moscow from 2 December to 9 December, 2014. The final round of the contest took place on 9 December at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and was broadcast live by the contest organizer, RussianKultura TV channel (VGTRK) and by Radio Russia Kultura.
http://tvkultura.ru/video/show/brand_id/58498/episode_id/1151578/video_id/1110504
This year young musicians (up to 14 years old) from Russia, Germany, Thailand, Australia, Egypt, Ukraine, Belorussia, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan were divided into groups by specialization: “wind and percussion instruments”, “strings” and “piano” and went through three rounds of competition.
The final round included nine contestants from Russia (Novosibirsk, Shuya, Voronezh, Moscow, and Barnaul), Armenia and Belorussia. The finalists’ performances were accompanied by the Moscow State Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by the artistic director and head manager of the Saint Petersburg State Theater “Music Hall” Fabio Mastrangelo. The masters of ceremonies for the final round of the contest were Fyokla Tolstaya and Evgeniy Kungurov.
The finalists’ performances were evaluated by a distinguished panel of ten musical experts including People’s Artist of Russia, Daniil Kramer; artistic director of the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Center and president of the M. L. Rostropovich Foundation, Olga Rostropovich; honorary conductor of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Ignat Solzhenitsyn; and, well-known violinist and People’s Artist of USSR, Liana Isakadze.
The Golden Nutcracker awards went to the young pianist from Belorussia, Vladislav Khandogiy, to the violinist from Voronezh, Georgiy Ibatulin and to the saxophone player from Shuya, Georgiy Djishkariani. X5 also presented all nine finalists and participants of the Contest with valuable prizes as well as providing “Candies of Kindness” for the audience.
The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has designated 2014 to be the Year of Culture. This year Х5 also became a strategic partner of the annual Living Classics International Contest for young elocutionists, where more than two million students from all over the world compete in reciting classical works of literature.
As a socially conscious company, Х5 implements charity projects together with the Lifeline Foundation for helping critically ill children; it also attaches great importance to supporting gifted children and promoting cultural and moral values. Taking into account the scale of X5’s business ventures, the Company is able to draw the attention of the widest possible audience to such projects.
For additional information please contact:
Denis Kuznetsov
Senior Public Relations Manager
+7-495 502-9783 ext. 11376
Denis.Kuznetsov@x5.ru
Vladimir Rusanov
Director of Public Relations
+7 (495) 662-8888 ext. 11357
Vladimir.Rusanov@x5.ru
Information:
X5 Retail Group N.V. (stock ticker at the London Stock Exchange — FIVE, Moody’s rating — B2, S&P rating — B+) is one of the leading grocery retailers in Russia. The Company manages stores of several retail chains: economy class groceries under the Pyaterochka brand, supermarkets under the Perekrestok brand, hypermarkets under the Carousel brand, Express Retail stores under various brands as well as the E5.RU online store.
By September 30, 2014, the Company had under its management 5,005 stores occupying the leading positions in retail in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and having a significant presence in the European part of Russia. The Company’s chain of stores includes 4,342 Pyaterochka stores, 389 Perekryostok supermarkets, 81 Carousel hypermarket and 193 Express stores. The company also manages 31 distribution center within the territory of Russian Federation and 1,528 cargo vehicles of its own.
In 2013 the Company revenues amounted to 534,560 million rubles, the EBITDA index reached 38,350 million rubles, and the net profit, 10,984 million rubles. Based on nine months of 2014 the revenues of X5 amounted to 452,285 million rubles, the EBITDA index reached 32,365 million rubles, and the net profit, 9,869 million rubles.
The shareholders of X5 are: Alpha Group — 47.86%, founders of Pyaterochka — 14.43%, X5 directors — 0.03%, treasury shares — 0.04%, public floats — 37.64%.