St. Petersburg, Russia; 4 April 2018 – Lenta (LSE, MOEX: LNTA), one of the largest retail chains in Russia, announces the opening of its own dedicated vegetable storage in the Ryazan Region.

Lenta’s new vegetable storage facilities are located in the town of Rybnoye, Ryazan Region and will be primarily used for winter storage and processing of potatoes, carrots, cabbages, and onions. The total area of 6,786 sq.m is divided in 16 chambers, with separate staff and administrative premises. Of the used area, 12 chambers are currently taken up by cooled storage and 4 chambers by processing. The storage facility's capacity volume totals 8,000 tonnes of potatoes and up to 7,500 tonnes of other root vegetables. Lenta’s existing sales enable full and comprehensive utilisation of the vegetable warehouse by the company with maximum efficiency.

The storage infrastructure, built in 2011, was purchased by Lenta at auction in 2017. The warehouse's building and cooling technologies are virtually brand new, their renovation requiring only a minor capital investment from the Company. The warehouse is located on a 10-hectare land plot, which enables a six-fold expansion if necessary in the future.

A fully owned vegetable warehouse of Lenta will optimise the Company's supply chain of fresh root vegetables, improve quality control for the benefit of customers, and improve the efficiency of its cooperation with farmers by noticeably reducing purchasing costs outside the season. With the help of the new facilities, the Company intends to supply both processed (washed and vacuum packed) and unprocessed vegetables to its hypermarkets and supermarkets, as well as further expand its existing range of private label vegetable preserves.

Lenta’s Chief Executive Officer Jan Dunning commented:

“With the opening of our own vegetable winter storage facilities, we have taken full control over an important link in the root vegetable supply chain for our stores. We will be able to ensure the best quality products both on the shelves and in the culinary section all year round, as well as expand our cooperation with farms lacking their own storage infrastructure. Through the purchase of seasonal root vegetables and their sale outside the season, we will reduce our dependence on spot prices in the market. The storehouse’s convenient location in our strategic region and close proximity to a distribution centre increases the overall logistics efficiency for this product category.”

About Lenta

Lenta is the largest hypermarket chain in Russia, and the country’s third largest retail chain. The Company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg. Lenta operates 232 hypermarkets in 84 cities across Russia and 106 supermarkets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and the Central region with a total of approximately 1,392,973 sq.m of selling space. The average Lenta hypermarket store has selling space of approximately 5,600 sq.m. The average Lenta supermarket store has selling space of approximately 900 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 53,100 people as of 31 December 2017¹.

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 https://www.lentainvestor.com or contact:

Lenta
Maria Filippova
PR and GR Manager
Tel: +7 812 380-61-31 ext.: 1892
E-mail: maria.filippova@lenta.com

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

International Media:
FTI Consulting
Leonid Fink & Jenny Payne
Ňel: +44 7497 783 705
E-mail: Leonid.Fink@fticonsulting.com

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¹FTE (full-time equivalent). Average FTE for 2017 was 42,366 employees