Russian food retailer Dixy's sales growth slows further

* December sales up 16.6 pct after 23.9 pct in November

* FY 2013 sales up 22.7 pct, miss target

* Changes in LFL calculation method flatter results

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Russia's No. 3 food retailer, Dixy Group (MCX: DIXY.ME - news) , reported a sharp slowdown in sales growth at the end of last year, hurt by increased competition and flagging consumer confidence.

Several other retailers have said their sales grew more slowly in December, with Magnit (MCX: MGNT.ME - news) and O'Key forecasting a slowdown in 2014.

Dixy, the country's third-biggest domestic grocery chain by sales behind Magnit and X5, said on Tuesday its sales had increased by 17 percent in December from a year earlier, after a 24 percent gain in November and 25 percent in October.

Last month, the company reduced working hours in most neighbourhood stores in response to increased competition. It also cut it full-year 2013 sales growth guidance to 23.5 percent from 25 percent.

However, the December slowdown means it missed that revised target as full-year sales grew 22.7 percent to 180.5 billion roubles ($5.20 billion), it said in a statement.

It also changed its method for calculating like-for-like sales, providing figures based on an analysis that included more stores than under the previous method.

In the fourth quarter, like-for-like sales growth was 3.8 percent compared with a restated 2.6 percent in the third quarter. Under its previous calculation method, third-quarter like-for-like sales were down 0.3 percent.