LNTR.L Regulatory News (LNTR)

Lenta meets new hypermarket opening guidance for 2015 with its 30th new hypermarket

Its second hypermarket in Surgut sees Lenta expand its network in the Urals to 13 hypermarkets in 6 cities

St-Petersburg, Russia; 29 December, 2015 - Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, is pleased to announce the opening of its second hypermarket in Surgut. This marks Lenta's 30th hypermarket opening for 2015, which meets Lenta's full year hypermarket opening guidance.

The new store in Surgut is a Lenta standard format hypermarket located at 2 Yugorsky Trakt, Surgut. The store has a total area of 12,000 sq.m, with 7,018 sq.m of selling space and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A broad product assortment of 26,000 SKUs has been selected specifically for residents of Surgut and includes Lenta's private label and federal product ranges alongside local produce. The store has 500 parking spaces and 40 cash registers. The property is owned by Lenta.

The opening in Surgut is Lenta's thirtieth hypermarket opening in 2015 and brings the total number of Lenta stores to 138 hypermarkets in 68 cities across Russia and 32 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Based on its current store opening pipeline Lenta is confident in its guidance to open at least 40 new hypermarkets in 2016, significantly more than it has ever opened in a single calendar year. As a result the Company will comfortably exceed its target of doubling selling space over the three year period to December 2016. Looking ahead, Lenta expects to pursue a similar or higher rate of organic growth of new hypermarket openings in 2017 and beyond.

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 138 hypermarkets in 68 cities across Russia and 32 supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with a total of approximately 880,541 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 6,100 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.

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: