The opening builds on the successful launch of Lenta’s supermarket format in Moscow in 2013

St-Petersburg, Russia; 5 December, 2015 – Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, is pleased to announce the opening of its first supermarket in St. Petersburg.

The new store is located at 54 Malyi Prospect, Vasilievsky Island, St. Petersburg. The store is the second of Lenta’s medium-sized supermarket format, with a total area of 1,309 sq.m, and 734 sq.m of selling space. The store is open from 8.00 a.m. till 12.00 p.m., seven days a week. A broad product assortment of 4,700 SKUs has been selected specifically for residents of St.Petersburg and includes Lenta’s private label and federal product ranges alongside local produce. The store has 6 cash registers. The property is leased by Lenta.

Lenta opened its first supermarket in Moscow in 2013 and now operates 27 supermarkets in the Moscow region. The typical Lenta supermarket has selling space of 1,100sqm. The new store in St Petersburg is Lenta’s second store in its new medium-sized supermarket format which is adapted for smaller premises with selling space of 600-900sqm.

The new store will be served by Lenta’s distribution center in Shushary, St Petersburg. To support continued growth of the Lenta supermarket format in Moscow, a dedicated supermarket distribution centre is under construction in Chekhov, Moscow region, and is expected to become operational during 2016.

Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer, Jan Dunning said:

“Building on the success of our supermarkets in Moscow, Lenta is pleased to launch its first supermarket in St Petersburg. Lenta’s supermarket format is a natural extension of our hypermarket model, enabling us to bring the Lenta brand and value proposition to customers in locations who might otherwise have limited access to a Lenta hypermarket”.

This opening is Lenta’s fourth supermarket opening in 2015 and brings the total number of Lenta stores to 126 hypermarkets in 65 cities across Russia and 28 supermarkets in the Moscow region 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 126 hypermarkets in 65[1] cities across Russia and 28 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a total of approximately 813,030 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 6,200 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 30,655 people as of 30 June 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

Instinctif Partners 
International Media: 
Mark Walter and Saule Jandossova 
Ňel:+44 (0)20 7457 2020 
E-mail: Lenta@instinctif.com

Primum
Russian Media: 
Alexandra Semenova and Marina Shvyrkova
Ňel:+7 903 591 1519 
E-mail: Lenta@primum.ru

[1] Lenta has changed methodology for calculating number of cities of presence and since 1 May 2015 all cities located in Moscow City and the Moscow region are shown as Moscow.
[2] FTE (full-time equivalent). Average FTE for 1H2015 was 29,776 employees.