With this opening, Lenta becomes the first federal food retailer to enter the Chechen Republic and expands its network in the South region to 17 hypermarkets in 12 cities

St-Petersburg, Russia; 08 February, 2016– Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, is pleased to announce the opening of its first hypermarket in Grozny.

The new store is a Lenta standard format hypermarket located at 151 Khankalskaya Str., Grozny. The store has a total area of 12,331 sq.m, with 7,081 sq.m of selling space and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A broad product assortment of 26,000 SKUs has been selected specifically for residents of Grozny and includes Lenta’s private label and federal product ranges alongside local produce. The store has 551 parking spaces and 40 cash registers. The property is owned by Lenta.

Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer, Jan Dunning said:

“With the opening of our new hypermarket in Grozny, Lenta has become the first national food retailer to enter the Chechen market. This is an important milestone for us as a company and for the Chechen food retail industry. We are confident our investment will be welcomed by consumers and bring significant benefits to the local economy. We are committed to working with local suppliers to serve the needs of our customers and assist in further economic development of the region”.

The opening in Grozny is Lenta’s first hypermarket opening in 2016 and brings the total number of Lenta stores to 141 hypermarkets in 70 cities across Russia and 32 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

About Lenta
Lenta is one of the largest retail chains in Russia and the country’s second largest hypermarket chain (in terms of 2014 sales). The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 141 hypermarkets in 70[1] cities across Russia and 32 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a total of approximately 889,464 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 6,100 sq.m. The average Lenta supermarket store has selling space of approximately 1,000 sq.m. The Company operates six owned hypermarket distribution centres.

The Company’s price-led hypermarket formats are differentiated in terms of their promotion and pricing strategies as well as their local product assortment. The Company employed approximately 38,414 people as of 31 December 2015[2].

The Company’s management team combines a mix of local knowledge and international expertise coupled with extensive operational experience in Russia. Lenta’s largest shareholders include TPG Capital and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, both of which are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. Lenta is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on the Moscow Exchange and trades under the ticker: ‘LNTA’.

A brief video summary on Lenta’s business and its Big Data initiative can be seen here.

For further information please visit www.lentainvestor.com, or contact:

Lenta
Anna Meleshina,
Public Relations & Government Affairs Director
Tel: +7 812 363 28 53
E-mail: anna.meleshina@lenta.com

Anastasia Kuznetsova,
Corporate Communications Manager
Ňel:+7 (812) 336 39 97
E-mail: a.kuznetsova@lenta.com

Citigate
International Media:
David Westover & Marina Zakharova
Ňel: +44 207 638 9571
E-mail: lentateam@citigatedr.co.uk

FTI Consulting
Russian Media:
Anton Karpov & Victoria Afonina
Ňel:+7 495 795 06 23
E-mail: lenta@FTIconsulting.com
[1] According to Lenta’s methodology for calculating number of cities of presence, since 1 May 2015 all cities located in Moscow City and the Moscow region are shown as Moscow, and all cities located in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg are shown as St. Petersburg.
[2] FTE (full-time equivalent). Average FTE for 1H2015 was 29,776 employees.