Auchan has invested over 50 billion rubles ($1.56 billion) in the development of its business in Russia over the ten years of its operations in the country, the company's president Vianney Mulliez said at a news conference, Interfax reported.
Over the course of that decade, Auchan has paid more than 42 billion rubles in taxes and social benefits, he said. Today the Auchan chain features 52 stores in Russia, including 36 classic Auchan hypermarkets, 14 Auchan City hypermarkets and two Nasha Raduga stores.
The French retailer plans to expand its chain to 150 hypermarkets by 2015 to 2017, Mulliez said. It will open seven new stores by the end of this year, including hypermarkets in Samara, Tyumen, Volgograd and St. Petersburg, as well as two Nasha Raduga stores in Kostroma and Yaroslavl, Maria Kurnosova, a spokeswoman for Auchan's Russian division said.
(MT)
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