X5 overtakes Magnit as Russia's No.1 retailer by sales

(Adds comparison with Magnit, analyst comment, share price)

Jan 24 (Reuters) - X5 Retail Group reported on Tuesday a 27.5 percent rise in sales in the fourth quarter, overtaking Magnit as Russia's biggest food retailer by revenue:

* Q4 net retail sales increased 27.5 percent to 291.3 billion roubles ($4.92 billion), X5 said in a statement.

* Magnit earlier reported a 9 percent year-on-year increase in Q4 net retail sales to 282.5 billion roubles.

* "The company regained its leadership on the Russian food retail market: X5 is now 3 percent above Magnit in terms of sales ... X5 lost its sales leadership in 2013, and in 2014 Magnit was 20 percent higher in terms of sales," analysts at VTB Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) wrote in a note.

* X5's like-for-like sales rose 7.5 percent year on year in Q4 with traffic rising 1.8 percent and basket up 5.6 percent.

* The company's full-year 2016 net retail sales increased 27.5 percent to 1.03 trillion roubles, still below Magnit's 1.1 trillion roubles.

* Full-year 2016 like-for-like sales rose 7.7 percent year on year, with traffic up 2.5 percent and basket up 5.0 percent.

* X5 opened 2,167 stores in 2016, including 613 in Q4.

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in X5 had jumped 5.4 percent to $32.54 by 1237 GMT.

Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: ($1 = 59.2600 roubles) (Reporting by Moscow Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter)