Russian retailer Dixy cuts opening hours, growth slows

* Opening hours reduced to improve efficiency

* Sales growth slows to 24 pct in Nov from 25 pct in Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news)

* Full-year target recently revised to 23.5 pct from 25 pct

MOSCOW, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Russian food retailer Dixy Group (MCX: DIXY.ME - news) has reported a slowdown in sales growth in November, as it reduced opening hours at its stores while competition increased.

The country's food retail chains have expanded rapidly over the past few years and are now facing increased competition for customers who often have a choice of three or four supermarkets in a single street.

Dixy, the third-biggest domestic grocery chain in Russia by sales behind Magnit (MCX: MGNT.ME - news) and X5, said on Wednesday it had reduced working hours in most neighbourhood stores so the chain's time of operation in November was 7 percent less than in October.

"We considered (the) efficiency of each store in early morning and late evening hours and reduced the time of work where revenue was smaller than the stores' expenses during these hours," a Dixy spokeswoman said.

The company's revenue rose 23.9 percent year-on-year in November to 15.3 billion roubles ($464 million), after a rise of 25 percent in October.

The November result brought its 11-months sales to about 161 billion roubles, up 23.6 percent but short of its initial full-year growth target of 25 percent. The company said earlier this month it was unlikely to meet the target as competition in its key markets intensified.

It now expects to increase revenue by around 23.5 percent this year, compared with 21 percent on a pro-forma basis in 2012, and by between 15 and 20 percent next year, CEO Ilya Yakubson said during a recent conference call.

Dixy had a total of 1,719 stores as of Nov. 30, up from 1,398 a year ago.