St-Petersburg, Russia; 28 October, 2019 - 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 third quarter ended 30 September 2019.

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3Q 2019 Operating Highlights:

• Total sales declined by 0.4% in 3Q 2019 to Rub 100.4bn (3Q 2018: Rub 100.8bn), including retail sales growth of 2.9% to Rub 97.8bn (3Q 2018: Rub 95.1bn) and wholesales decline of 55.0%;
• Like-for-like (“LFL”)¹ retail sales declined by 0.5% excluding VAT vs. 3Q 2018. This is equivalent to LFL retail sales growth of 0.4% including VAT, due to increase in VAT from 1 January 2019;
• LFL retail traffic decline of 2.0% combined with LFL retail ticket growth of 1.5%;
• One hypermarket was opened during the third quarter of 2019;
• Total stores numbered 375 stores as at 30 September 2019, comprising of 246 hypermarkets and 129 supermarkets;
• Total selling space increased to 1,471,647 sq.m as at 30 September 2019 (+4.3% vs. 30 September 2018); and
• Number of active loyalty cardholders² increased to 15.5m (+12.5% YoY) with around 97% of transactions in the third quarter carried out using the loyalty programme.

9M 2019 Operating Highlights:

• Total sales grew 1.9% in 9M 2019 to Rub 299.6bn (9M 2018: Rub 294.0bn), including retail sales growth of 5.7% to Rub 293bn (9m 2018: Rub 277bn) and wholesale sales decline of 59.9%;
• LFL retail sales growth of 1.7% excluding VAT vs. 9M 2018. This is the equivalent of LFL retails sales growth of 2.6% including VAT, due to the increase in VAT from 1 January 2019;
• LFL traffic growth of 0.7% combined with a 1.0% growth in LFL ticket; and
• Four new hypermarkets and one supermarket were opened during 9M 2019, while two hypermarkets and seven supermarkets were closed during the same period.

Events in 3Q 2019 and after the reported period:

• The Company established a representative office of Lenta Ltd. (a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands) in St. Petersburg and the Company’s CFO, Rud Pedersen, was appointed as the head of the office;
• The Extraordinary General Meeting, held on 22 October 2019, resolved that the Company will continue its incorporation in the Republic of Cyprus and will be registered as a public limited liability company (“Lenta PLC”), followed by amendments and replacement of the current Memorandum and Articles of Association. The full text of resolutions and the results of voting at the EGM can be viewed on the Company’s website at www.lentainvestor.com.

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

Lenta
Mariya Filippova
PR&GR Director
Tel: +7 812 380-61-31 ext.: 1892
E-mail: maria.filippova@lenta.com

Russian Media:
NW Advisors
Victoria Afonina
Ňel:+7 495 795 06 23
E-mail: lenta@nwadvisors.com

₁Lenta’s stores are included in the LFL store base starting 12 months after the end of the month in which they are opened. The Company has not made any changes to the methodology of LFL calculation; both total sales growth and LFL sales growth are reported excluding VAT as the best measure to evaluate YoY performance

²Cardholders who made at least 2 purchases at Lenta during the 12 months to 30 September 2019 are considered active.