Krasnodar, August 26, 2009: OJSC “Magnit” (the “Company”; RTS, MICEX and LSE: MGNT) is pleased to release its 1H 2009 unaudited operating and financial results prepared in accordance with IFRS.

During 1H 2009 the Company added 226 stores (net) and increased its selling space by 26.7% in comparison to 1H 2008 from 714.6 thousand sq. m. to 905.2 thousand sq. m.

Revenue in rubles increased by 33.0% YoY from 59,139.2 million RUR in 1H 2008 to 78,629.3 million RUR in 1H 2009. The top line growth was due to an increase in selling space as well as to a 10.2% increase of like-for-like sales (excl. VAT). Revenue in dollar terms decreased by 3.7% from US$ 2,469.9 million to US$ 2,377.8 million due to significant change of US$ exchange rate¹.

Gross margin improved from 20.9% in 1H 2008 to 23.3% in 1H 2009 primarily due to the better purchasing terms as well as to an in-house logistics improvement. Gross profit in rubles increased by 48.5% from 12,332.7 million RUR (US$ 515.1 million) to 18,318.8 million RUR (US$ 554.0 million).

EBITDA increased by 96.5% from 3,772.7 million RUR (US$ 157.6 million) in 1H 2008 to 7,414.8 million RUR (US$ 224.2 million) in 1H 2009.

1H 2009 net income increased by 147.0% and amounted to 3,899.5 million RUR (US$ 117.9 million) vs. 1,578.5 million RUR (US$ 65.9 million) in 1H 2008. Sergey Galitsky, the Company’s CEO, provided the following comments on the published 1H 2009 results:

“Positive 1H 2009 results confirm that we have chosen our strategic direction correctly. The Company has a small amount of debt, at the same time reinvesting almost all profits in business and focusing on a strict costs control. We are targeting further optimization of all business processes shall become the result of our work.

Our plans for the nearest future are traditional: we will continue to invest in our business going forward. We are not going to stop or slow down the rate of our business growth. In a mid-term perspective we will continue to focus on developing our logistics system: we plan to build additional distribution centers and to increase the owned vehicles’ fleet. We will also continue rapid construction of convenience stores and hypermarkets”.

OJSC "Magnit" announces 1H 2009 operating and financial results