St. Petersburg, Russia; 3 August 2017– Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA), one of the largest retail chains in Russia, today announced that the ACRA has assigned A+ (RU) credit rating to Lenta LLC. The outlook on the ratings is “Stable”.

The rating is under the National Scale for the Russian Federation and is assigned to Lenta by ACRA for the first time.

According to ACRA, the credit rating assigned to Lenta is stems from its strong operating profile, very strong corporate governance, moderate leverage, comfortable fixed charge coverage and very strong liquidity. The rating is further supported by a high share of own selling space in the total selling area of the Company.

About Lenta

Lenta is the largest hypermarket chain in Russia (in terms of selling space) and the country’s fourth largest retail chain (in terms of Q1 2017 sales). The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 195 hypermarkets in 78 cities across Russia and 59 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and the Central region with a total of approximately 1,173,416 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 5,700 sq.m. The average Lenta supermarket store has selling space of approximately 900 sq.m. The Company operates seven owned 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 45,689 people as of 31 December 2016.

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:

FTI Consulting
Russian Media:
Anton Karpov & Victoria Afonina
Ňel:+7 495 795 06 23
E-mail: lenta@FTIconsulting.com

FTI Consulting International
Media: Leonid Fink & Jenny Payne
Ňel: +44 7497 783 705
E-mail: Leonid.Fink@fticonsulting.com
Jenny.Payne@fticonsulting.com