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LENTA SALES AND OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE THIRD QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2014

St-Petersburg, Russia; 16 October, 2014- 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 2014[1].

3Q 2014 Operating Highlights:

· Total sales grew 32.9% in 3Q 2014 to Rub 48.5bn (3Q 2013: Rub 36.5bn);

· Like-for-like ("LFL")[2] sales growth of 8.9% vs. 3Q 2013;

· LFL traffic growth of 4.2% combined with a 4.5% increase in LFL average ticket;

· Five hypermarkets and two supermarkets opened during the third quarter of 2014;

· Total of 103 stores at 30 September 2014, comprising 87 hypermarkets and 16 supermarkets;

· Total selling space increased to 569,803 sq.m. as at 30 September 2014 (+37.0% vs. 30 September 2013); and

· Active loyalty cardholders[3] increased to 6.0m (+35% y-o-y) with approximately 90% of transactions in the third quarter made using the loyalty card.

9M 2014 Operating Highlights:

· Total sales grew 36.3% in 9M 2014 to Rub 134.4bn (9M 2013: Rub 98.7bn);

· LFL sales growth of 12.0% vs. 9M 2013;

· LFL traffic growth of 5.4% combined with a 6.3% increase in LFL average ticket; and

· 10 hypermarkets and six supermarkets opened during the first nine months of 2014.

Material events in 3Q 2014 and after the reported period

· National Rating Agency upgraded credit rating of Lenta LLC (a main operating subsidiary of Lenta Ltd.) under National Scale Rating (Russia) from "AA-" to "AA";

· Lenta has signed improved terms of the facility agreement with the EBRD in respect to leverage requirements; and

· Lenta has significantly improved terms and conditions of the facility agreement with VTB Capital, relating to security, pricing and leverage requirements.

Lenta's Chief Executive Officer, Jan Dunning commented:

"Lenta continued to implement its growth strategy during the third quarter of the year despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, including recent trade restrictions in Russia for selected product categories, rising food inflation and local currency depreciation. Total sales growth reached 36% for the nine month period through a combination of 12% like-for-like growth and a 37% year-on-year increase in selling space, partially thanks to some store openings that came earlier than planned.

We have continued to build Lenta's development pipeline and look forward to completing our development programme for 2014 with a strong sequence of hypermarket and supermarket openings during November and December. Next year's store opening programme is progressing well and we reconfirm our long-term target of doubling net selling space over the three years to December 2016.

Looking ahead, it is clear that because consumers are having to adapt their behaviour to cope with the changing economic conditions in Russia, we should remain cautious. We are continuing to adapt our offer - reinforcing our strong pricing and promotions and at the same time using insight from the Lenta card - to help our customers spend less."

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

Lenta Store Developments

In the third quarter of 2014, Lenta opened five hypermarkets (two owned standard format stores in Novosibirsk and Nizhnekamsk, one owned compact store in Yoshkar Ola and two rented supercompact stores in Moscow and the Moscow region), taking the total number of hypermarkets to 87. The Company also opened two rented supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region, bringing the total number of supermarkets to 16. Total selling space as at 30 September 2014 increased to 569,803 sq.m., up 37.0% y-o-y. Since the beginning of the year Lenta has opened 10 hypermarkets and seven supermarkets. Total selling space as at 16 October 2014 was around 571,000 sq.m., up 37.2% compared to the same period of 2013.

Lenta's Operating Performance

Continuing selling space additions and robust sales in LFL stores resulted in an overall sales growth of 32.9% for the third quarter of 2014. Total sales amounted to Rub 48.5bn in the third quarter, compared to Rub 36.5bn for the same period last year. While sales growth accelerated in July and August in line with the results published for 1H 2014, sales growth in September was impacted by a high base used for comparison and a negative quality of day effect. During the respective period of last year (from 10 September to 14 October, 2013) the Company held a heavy promotional campaign celebrating Lenta's 20th Anniversary and recorded 44.4% sales growth with 20.3% LFL sales growth for September 2013, the highest monthly result since 2011. LFL sales growth for 1H 2013 was 7.5%, in July and August 2013 the Company recorded LFL sales growth of 7.8% and 11.8%, respectively.

In the third quarter of the year Lenta continued to implement digital activities to reach customers with special offers tailored on an individual basis to enhance traffic (for example, in August more than 0.5 million customers redeemed their coupons of the "Thank you" mailing which helped boost customer visits). The number of active loyalty cardholders increased to 6.0 million as at 30 September, 2014 (+35% y-o-y).

LFL sales growth of 8.9% in the third quarter was supported by LFL traffic growth of 4.2%. The average LFL ticket increased by 4.5% to Rub 1,111 mostly due to inflationary effects. All regions continued to deliver robust LFL growth with healthy increases in customer traffic and basket size.

Lenta's expansion resulted in an increase in the number of new maturing stores included in the LFL store base for comparison. During the first nine months of 2014, 13 hypermarkets and four supermarkets entered the LFL panel, including four hypermarkets and three supermarkets in the third quarter.

The average hypermarket ticket in the third quarter increased to Rub 1,088 (+1.8% compared to the third quarter of 2013), slightly lower than the 4.6% increase in the LFL average hypermarket ticket due to the increase in the proportion of younger stores. The slight decrease of 0.5% in the total average ticket noticed in 3Q 2014 is a result of the increasing share of supermarkets while average ticket has increased in both formats.

Total customer traffic increased by 28.5% in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the same period of the previous year, comprising 25.3% growth in hypermarket traffic and around a 5.0 times increase in traffic at Lenta's new supermarket format, which was launched in April 2013.

The performance of Lenta's supermarkets in the third quarter of 2014 was in line with expectations, despite the stores' relative immaturity (only five stores out of 16 had been operating more than a year as at 30 September, 2014). The supermarket format's share of Lenta's total sales increased to 2.9% in the quarter, up from 0.7% in the third quarter of 2013.

Guidance

Given nine months openings and progress in the construction of new stores, Lenta confirms its initial guidance of 24 hypermarket and 15 supermarket openings in 2014. The Company expects these store openings to translate into an increase of at least 30% in total net selling space for 2014. We have also made good progress in building our new site pipeline and maintain our long-term target to double net selling space over the three years to December 2016. Our sales growth guidance for the full year 2014 remains unchanged at 34-38%. However we will inevitably not be immune from possible impacts on consumer behaviour caused by deterioration in the macro environment.

About Lenta

Lenta is one of the largest retail chains in Russia and the country's second largest hypermarket chain (in terms of 2013 sales). The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 87 hypermarkets in 50 cities across Russia and 17 supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region, with a total of approximately 570,673 sq.m. of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 6,400 sq.m. The Company operates four 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 27,800 people as of 31 December 2013.

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, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and VTB Capital Private Equity, all of whom 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'.

Forward looking statements:

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not only relate to historical or current events. Forward-looking statements often use words such as "anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "expected", "plan", "goal", "believe", or other words of similar meaning.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are beyond Lenta's control. As a result, actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Lenta speak only as at the date of this announcement. Save as required by any applicable laws or regulations, Lenta undertakes no obligation publicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this document that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document.