St-Petersburg, Russia; 23 April, 2015 – Lenta Ltd, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA / “Lenta” or the “Company”) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, is pleased to announce the Company’s consolidated sales and operating results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2015. 

1Q 2015 Operating Highlights:

• Total sales grew 37.7% in 1Q 2015 to Rub 54.5bn (1Q 2014: Rub 39.6bn);
• Like-for-like (“LFL”)¹ sales growth of 15.0% vs. 1Q 2014;
• LFL traffic growth of 7.8% combined with a 6.7% increase in LFL ticket;
• Four hypermarkets opened during the first quarter of 2015;
• Total of 136 stores at 31 March 2015, comprising 112 hypermarkets and 24 supermarkets;
• Total selling space increased to 727,610 sq.m. as at 31 March 2015 (+40.0% vs. 31 March 2014); and
• Number of active loyalty cardholders² increased to 7.1m (+34% y-o-y) with approximately 90% of transactions in the first quarter made using the loyalty card.

Material events in 1Q 2015 and after the reported period:

• In March Lenta completed a primary capital increase of 35.2 million new GDRs via an accelerated bookbuilding, raising gross proceeds of US$225.3 million; 
• Lenta has signed Rub 15bn three-year revolving loan facility with VTB Bank;
• Lenta has agreed revised leverage requirements which provide increased covenant headroom under its facility agreements with VTB Capital, EBRD and Raiffeisenbank.

Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer, Jan Dunning commented:

“In the first quarter of 2015, Lenta delivered industry leading sales growth of 38%. Consumer income remains under pressure and Lenta’s low price-low cost business model positions us well to minimise the impact of inflation and help our customers manage their budgets. Continuous improvements to our offer resulted in exceptional growth of 8% in like-for-like customer visits, the highest in over three years. This enabled total like-for-like sales growth of 15%, with food sales up even more at 17.5%.

We successfully completed a primary capital increase in March with gross proceeds of US$225m which strengthened our balance sheet and provides additional financial flexibility to accelerate our store opening programme in 2015 and beyond. We are well-positioned to capitalise on the growth opportunities in Russian food retail and expect to comfortably exceed our target of doubling net selling space over the three years to December 2016.”

¹Lenta’s stores are included in the LFL store base starting 12 months after the end of the month they are opened

²Cardholders who made at least 2 purchases at Lenta during the 12 months to 31 March, 2015 are considered active

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

Lenta

Anna Meleshina,
Director of Public Relations and Government Affairs
+7 812 363 28 53
Anna.Meleshina@lenta.com

Albert Avetikov,
Director of Investor Relations
+7 812 363 28 44
Albert.Avetikov@lenta.com

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