MOSCOW: X5 Group (LSE: FIVE), a leading Russian food retailer, announced the acquisition of the Nice Ice ready-to-eat food business in the Leningrad Region. The Company has obtained the relevant permit from a government commission. As part of the deal, X5 will take over ownership of a 4,200-square metre ready-to-eat food smart kitchen in the Vsevolozhsky District.

The production site will become a part of the X5 Food business unit, which develops the ready-to-eat segment across the Company’s retail chains. The smart kitchen already produces about 7,000 ready-to-eat meals a day for X5’s Pyaterochka and Perekrestok retail chains and has a total daily capacity of up to 40,000 meals, with the potential to be upgraded to up to 70,000 meals.

The facility produces ready-to-eat meals in a variety of categories, including salads, breakfasts, hot meals, starters, sandwiches and desserts.

Olga Feldt, Managing Director of X5 Food, commented: “The acquisition of the smart kitchen will help us to expand the ready-to-eat assortment on our store shelves, accelerate the launch of new product lines and cut production costs, which will make ready meals at Pyaterochka and Perekrestok even more affordable.”

At present, X5 Food’s existing in-house and contracted production facilities produce about 100 tonnes of ready-to-eat food per day across more than 400 SKUs. As at 2023-end, ready-to-eat food accounted for 2.3% of sales at Pyaterochka and 6.3% at Perekrestok.

The Company plans to grow its share in the combined retail and HoReCa ready-to-eat market to 9% by 2026.

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