St-Petersburg, Russia; 9 March, 2016– Lenta (LSE, MOEX:LNTA), one of the largest retail chains in Russia, today confirms that the Moody's Interfax Rating Agency has withdrawn its Aa3.ru national scale rating (NSR) for Lenta Limited (‘Lenta’) as a result of commercial considerations.
The Moody’s Investors Service Corporate Family Rating (CFR) for Lenta of Ba3 remains unchanged. Lenta ratings awarded by other rating agencies also remain unchanged:
BB- / Stable corporate Credit rating by Standard & Poor’s
BB- / Positive Issue Default rating by Fitch
A+ / Positive National Long-term rating by Fitch
AA / Positive National Scale rating by National Rating Agency
Lenta maintains a strong financial profile and is committed to a conservative funding policy in support of its active growth strategy.
About Lenta
Lenta is the largest hypermarket chain in Russia (in terms of selling space) and the country’s fifth largest retail chain (in terms of 2015 sales). The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 142 hypermarkets in 701 cities across Russia and 32 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a total of approximately 891,995 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 20152.
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
1According 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 2015 was 31,307 employees.
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