According to a Prime-Tass report the company said that it was making the investments on the back of a substantial increase in revenues. The Ramstore chain, which was established in 1997 is expecting to raise its turnover to $560 million this year, up from $430 million in 2002 and $300 million in 2002.
Investment to expand the number of retail outlets has been increasing steadily each year. Between 1997 and 2003 the company invested $250 million, with $100 million being spent in 2003 alone.
The company said that off the back of its increased investment it plans to open 10 new stores. Last year the company opened a further eight stores, bringing its current total to 23 outlets. Of these stores 20 are in the Moscow region, with the other three situated in Kazan, Krasnoyarsk and Nizhny Novgorod.
Expansion for this year is expected to focus outside the Moscow metropolitan region, with two stores planned for the St. Petersburg area and second outlets for Kazan and Krasnoyarsk.
This year, the chain is to open a new store in Rostov-on Don, two in St. Petersburg, second outlets in Kazan and Krasnoyarsk, as well as stores in Novosibirsk and Samara.
Ramenka is co-owned by three Turkish companies chain store Migros, which holds 30 per cent, Ram Foreign Trade Company with 20 per cent and Enka construction company with 50 per cent.
Experts estimates that the Russia's total retail market size at around $120 billion annually, and still growing. To date Moscow has accounted for 25 per cent of the total development, but as future expansion of the Ramenka group suggests, many food retailers and hypermarket chains are starting to refocus expansion outside of the Moscow Metropolitan area.
With overall retail growth in Russia topping 10 per cent annually, many leading western food retailers have made the jump into the market in recent years. Companies such as German group Metro and French chain Auchan have all centred in on the Moscow region, but their expansion plans are also expected to soon spill into other urban areas.