Moscow, Oct 20 - Russia's top food retailer X5 said on Monday it would lay off up to one third of its 3,000-strong managerial workers to cut costs during the global financial crisis.
"This step aims at increasing our efficiency on the operational level," X5's Investor Relations director Anna Kareva told Reuters.
Kareva said the company would cut only managerial jobs, which account for around seven percent of headcount.
"Before the crisis, most retailers had not thought about operational efficiency. Many of them had bloated staff... and now there is a good reason to get rid of some employees," said Anton Belogorodov from consultant Ward Howell Russia.
Some other Russian retailers, including Paterson, ALPI and Vester, had already cut their workforce, according to market sources.
X5, Russia's largest food retailer by revenue, this month cut capital expenditure by about 30 percent because of the financial crisis.
It also said it expected that three hypermarkets initially planned for opening in 2008 would open next year due to delays by developers.