St. Petersburg, Russia; 27 December 2016 – Lenta (LSE, MOEX: LNTA), one of the largest retail chains in Russia, and Eurotorg LLC (Euroopt retail chain), the Belarusian food retailer, are pleased to announce that they have signed an agreement of intent.
Under the agreement, the companies will explore the potential for joint procurement opportunities for both food and non-food categories. Lenta and Euroopt will share information about suppliers and run joint procurement programmes where appropriate.
The scope of the agreement also includes private label product ranges. Cooperation could include both supply of Lenta’s private label products to Euroopt and adding private label products developed by Euroopt to the Lenta range.
The companies also agreed to jointly develop marketing concepts and innovative product ranges.
Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer Jan Dunning said:
“We are excited to start a partnership with Euroopt, one of the largest Belarusian retailers. We see Euroopt as our strategic partner and look forward to running collaborative projects which will enable more efficient procurement by both companies and give an additional impetus to the development of Russian and Belarusian producers. This is a pioneering relationship in the CIS markets, although we see numerous examples of such partnerships elsewhere. With the help of our recently introduced strategic procurement division we will be among the first in the market to tap the potential of international partnerships to cement our position locally.”
Andrey Zubkov, Chairman of the Board at Eurotorg LLC said:
“Our partnership with the federal retail chain Lenta is definitely a major milestone both for our company and for Belarus in general, as this collaboration will enable our suppliers, Belarus producers, to boost their exports to Russia. By joining our procurement efforts, we expect to be able to negotiate more attractive prices and pass on these benefits to our customers, thus providing social support. We highly value the professional expertise of our partners and hope that knowledge and best practice sharing will drive the technology edge of our business and boost our performance. We are confident that this strategic partnership will set an excellent example of effective collaboration between like-minded business teams, highlighting the friendly ties between the markets of Russia and Belarus.”
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 189 hypermarkets in 77 cities across Russia and 47 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Central region with a total of approximately 1,138,609 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 5,800 sq.m. The average Lenta supermarket store has selling space of approximately 1,000 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 34,134 people as of 30 June 20161.
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
Òel:+7 (812) 336 39 97
E-mail: a.kuznetsova@lenta.com
Citigate
International Media:
David Westover
Òel: +44 207 282 2886
E-mail: lentateam@citigatedr.co.uk
FTI Consulting
Russian Media:
Anton Karpov & Victoria Afonina
Òel:+7 495 795 06 23
E-mail: lenta@FTIconsulting.com
About Eurotorg LLC
Eurotorg LLC (Euroopt retail chain) is the largest retail chain in Belarus in terms of 2016 turnover and one of the fastest growing retailers in emerging markets. The Company was established in 1993 in Minsk. Eurotorg operates 450 stores (hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores). Every day about 900,000 customers make purchases in the Company stores in 122 locations in Belarus. In addition, Euroopt manages and develops one of the largest online grocery services in the CIS with more than 7,000 customers daily.
The Ñompany implements the strategy of "best price offer with optimal assortment" putting emphasis on locally produced goods. As of June-end 2016, Eurotorg personnel accounted for 34 500 people. The Company is among the largest employers in Belarus.
For further information please contact:
Darya Lyskovets
Head of PR and CSR
Òel.: +375 29 198 97 44
E-mail: LyskovecD@eurotorg.by
Tatyana Kurbat
Head of PR and Digital
Òål.: +375 29 777 87 47
E-mail: KurbatT@eurotorg.by
1 FTE (full-time equivalent). Average FTE for 1H 2016 was 33,758 employees
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