Moscow, Oct 14 - Russian mid-range supermarket chain Seventh Continent on Wednesday reported an 11 percent rise in sales in the first nine months of 2009 compared with a year earlier, underperforming budget-priced competitors.
Russia's consumer boom has been dulled by the first recession in a decade, which has seen millions lose jobs or face cuts in salaries and working hours.
Seventh Continent said the value of an average shopping basket of purchases fell 0.5 percent but sales overall rose to 35.1 billion roubles ($1.19 billion) in January-September from 31.6 billion in the same period of 2008. Like-for-like sales rose 3.4 percent.
The company did not add to its 140 stores in the third quarter.
Seventh Continent, which mostly targets the middle class market, underperformed its peers, which offer cheaper shopping.
Magnit, Russia's largest grocer by number of stores, reported a 31 percent rise in sales, while rival X5 posted a 26 percent increase thanks to the popularity of discount Pyatyorochka stores.
Seventh Continent shares were flat at 283.99 roubles by 1002 GMT, against a 3 percent rise in the broad MICEX index.