The credit rating of Rusagro Group PJSC (hereinafter, Rusagro, the Company, or the Group) is based on its strong market position, very strong business and geography, and strong corporate governance. The financial profile assessment reflects the high profitability, medium leverage, coverage and cash flow scores, the large size of the Group’s business, and the strong assessment of liquidity.
The Watch Status has been extended due to uncertainty caused by continuing investigative actions involving some of the Company’s beneficiaries. The rating assumes that the group structure and shareholder ownership will remain in their current form. Any significant changes may lead to a revision of Rusagro’s rating.
Rusagro is one of the largest agro-industrial holdings in Russia. It focuses on the production of food products in four areas: fats and oils, sugar, meat, and agriculture. The Group’s land bank is 826,000 hectares and its assets are located in 15 regions of the Russian Federation.
KEY ASSESSMENT FACTORS
Strong market position. Completion of the consolidation of 100% of the assets of Agro-Belogorye Group enabled the Company to achieve a synergistic effect in the meat and agricultural segments, strengthen its market position, rising to second place in Russia in terms of pork production. According to the National Union of Pig Breeders, the Group’s share in total production in Russia was 9.7% in 2025. In addition, the Company holds leading positions in the production of oil and fats (production of raw sunflower oil, consumer margarine and mayonnaise) and sugar production, and maintains a stable position in the agricultural segment.
Very strong business. The Company has high product diversification thanks to a wide range of various product categories covering the main segments of the agricultural sector — from sugar and meat products to oil and fat products, including mayonnaise and vegetable oils. This is supported by the Company’s base of raw materials — the main raw materials for sugar, mayonnaise, oils and margarines are grown in the Company’s fields, and the livestock’s needs for feed are completely met by six of its factories. The Group’s assets include agricultural land, feed mills, pig farms with slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities, sugar and oil extraction plants (SOEPs), as well as fat-and-oil and dairy plants, which ensures the Company’s complete control over the supply chain from raw materials to finished products. The product line includes more than 40 retail brands with a long history — six of them are first in their categories, two occupy second place, and one holds third place.
Very high score for geography. The Company’s products are sold in most of Russia’s regions in the B2B (76%) and B2C (24%) segments, including major retail chains, and are exported (the share of foreign countries in revenues in 2025 amounted to 19%), mainly oil and fat products that are shipped to the CIS countries, Asia, and the Middle East.
High corporate governance score. The Agency notes the strong management structure — the Company has a board of directors with four independent members. In addition, Rusagro has a sophisticated risk management system and work is underway to mitigate risks in accordance with the Company’s internal documents at the strategic, operational and control levels. The structure of the group is characterized by a certain level of complexity, typical of vertically integrated holdings. The effectiveness of the management strategy is confirmed by the Group’s sustainable growth through the upgrading of existing production facilities and construction of new ones, the acquisition of assets, increased processing, expansion of presence in retail channels, development of its own brands, and transformation of logistices. Financial transparency is very high: via its corporate website the Company regularly discloses operational and financial performance, as well as information for investors.
Large business size and high profitability. The Company’s revenues increased by 16.6% to RUB 396 bln in 2025. The Agency expects high revenue growth to continue in 2026 thanks to the completion of the modernization of the Atkarsk SOEP, construction of systems for long-term storage of beets, increasing the loading of a meat processing cluster in Primorye, and an increase in trading operations in the agricultural and oil and fat segments. According to ACRA’s calculations, the weighted average FFO before net interest and taxes for 2023–2028 will amount to 2.89 bps of GDP, which, according to the Agency’s methodology, corresponds to a high score for the size of the business. Despite the decline of the FFO margin before net interest payments and taxes to 14% in 2025 compared to 15% a year before that (due to the strengthening of the ruble and low sugar prices), it remains high as per ACRA’s methodology.
Medium leverage and interest payment coverage. In 2025, the Company’s loan portfolio grew by 23.4% to RUB 207 bln, including lease obligations. Debt increased due to the need for additional financing on the back of a large-scale investment program in 2024–2025 and the extension of preferential loans received in 2024 as part of the federal project Agricultural Product Export. This, in turn, led to an increase in the ratio of total debt to FFO before net interest payments. According to the Agency’s estimates, the weighted average indicator for 2023 to 2028 will be 3.5x and then decline to 2.6x by the end of 2028, which will be facilitated by a reduction in capital expenditures following the completion of the active phase of the investment cycle and higher FFO from the implementation of projects to increase the volume of business as part of the strategy. The qualitative assessment of leverage is determined as high due to a significant share of long-term liabilities and a sufficiently highly diversified portfolio of creditors. The weighted average ratio of FFO before net interest payments to interest payments for 2023–2028 is expected to be 3.8x, which corresponds to a medium score for coverage.
Strong liquidity and medium cash flow assessments. Rusagro’s liquidity assessment is high due to the significant amount of undrawn credit lines. The medium score for cash flow is determined by the low score for the FCF margin due to the peak of capital expenditures in 2024–2025 and the high score for the ratio of capital expenditures to revenues. The Group’s investment program is designed to implement its business development strategy. The ratio of capital expenditures to revenues remained at 9% in 2025. In the following years, the Agency expects that as major investment projects are completed, the ratio of capital expenditures to revenues will be within 5%.
KEY ASSUMPTIONS
-
The Company’s revenues to grow by at least 20% in 2026, and the annual average growth of revenues at 8–10% in 2027–2028;
-
Capital expenditures in the forecast period in line with the financial model presented to the Agency;
-
No annual dividend payments in 2026–2028.
POTENTIAL OUTLOOK OR RATING CHANGE FACTORS
The Stable outlook assumes that the rating will highly likely stay unchanged within the 12 to 18-month horizon.
A positive rating action may be prompted by:
- Weighted average ratio of total debt to FFO before net interest payments falling below 2.0x coupled with the weighted average ratio of FFO before net interest payments to interest payments exceeding 5.0x.
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
-
Weighted average ratio of total debt to FFO before net interest payments exceeding 5.0x;
-
The weighted average ratio of FFO before net interest payments to interest payments declining below 2.5x;
-
Weighted average ratio of capital expenditures to revenues exceeding 8%.
The Watch Status assumes that a rating action is highly likely on a horizon of up to 12 months.
Removal of Watch Status and affirmation of the credit rating may be prompted by:
- Termination of investigative activities against the beneficiaries, without any impact on the Company’s credit quality.
Removal of Watch Status and downgrading the credit rating may be prompted by:
- Investigative activities against the beneficiaries resulting in a situation that may negatively affect the Company’s credit quality.
RATING COMPONENTS
Standalone creditworthiness assessment (SCA): aa-.
ISSUE RATINGS
There are no outstanding issues.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURE
The credit rating has been assigned to Rusagro Group PJSC based on the following methodologies: the Methodology for Assigning Credit Ratings to Non-Financial Corporations under the National Scale for the Russian Federation to calculate the SCA and determine the credit rating and the credit rating outlook of Rusagro Group PJSC under the national scale for the Russian Federation and the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities to ensure consistent and uniform application of ACRA’s methodologies, rating scales, models, and key rating assumptions.
The Watch Status has been extended for the credit rating of Rusagro Group PJSC in accordance with the Key Concepts Used by the Analytical Credit Rating Agency within the Scope of Its Rating Activities.
The credit rating of Rusagro Group PJSC assigned under the national scale for the Russian Federation was published by ACRA for the first time on April 30, 2025.
The credit rating was last published on April 30, 2025.
The credit rating and its outlook are expected to be revised within one year.
The Watch Status is expected to be retained for the credit rating for one year.
The credit rating was assigned based on data provided by Rusagro Group PJSC, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The rating analysis was performed using the IFRS accounting (financial) statements of Rusagro Group PJSC as of December 31, 2025.
The credit rating is solicited and Rusagro Group PJSC participated in its assignment.
In assigning the credit rating, ACRA used only information, the quality and reliability of which were, in ACRA’s opinion, appropriate and sufficient to apply the methodologies.
ACRA provided no additional services to Rusagro Group PJSC during the year preceding the rating action.
No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.
