The credit rating of LLC Lenta (hereinafter, Lenta or the Company) has been ungraded to AA+(RU) to reflect the growth in the size of the Company’s business (the ratio of FFO before fixed payments and taxes to the GDP of the Russian Federation amounted to more than 5 bps in 2025), and the high profitability (the weighted average FFO before fixed payments and taxes margin for 2023–2028 is projected by ACRA to exceed 10%).
The credit rating is based on the Company’s strong market position, strong operating profile, high level of corporate governance, low leverage, very strong liquidity, and high profitability. In its calculations of the Company’s quantitative indicators, ACRA used Lenta IPJSC’s consolidated reports because the Company and its subsidiaries generate over 99% of consolidated revenues and assets of the group controlled by Lenta IPJSC.
As of the end of 2025, Lenta was Russia’s fourth largest retail chain in terms of revenues. The Company’s chain included 270 hypermarkets, 373 supermarkets, 3,928 small grocery stores, and 1,985 drugstores as of the end of 2025. Total retail space exceeded 3 mln sq. m across more than 650 Russian cities in all of Russia’s federal districts.
KEY ASSESSMENT FACTORS
The strong operational profile reflects high scores for the market position and corporate governance, as well as very high scores for the business and the geography of presence. The Company’s business is well diversified by formats: the share of hypermarket revenues is about 50% of the total, the share of small grocery stores is about 30%, and that of supermarkets is about 10%. The Company successfully implements its strategy for developing the retail chain and uses all major channels for advertising and promoting its brands, which is a positive factor for the business profile assessment.
The Agency notes the significant growth of the Company’s sales, which is due to the broadening of the chain. As a result, revenues grew by 24% last year. The growth in like-for-like sales in stores of all formats for Q4 2025 amounted to 8.4%. The operating margin increased to 10.6% in 2025, while FFO before fixed payments and taxes grew to RUB 119 bln.
High level of corporate governance. The board of directors of Lenta IPJSC exercises corporate governance and controls the Company’s operations. The board of directors has committees for audit, operations, capital expenses, nominations, and remuneration. The Company’s risk management function is well-regulated and minimizes all major types of risk, and the treasury policy provides for maintaining a high level of liquidity, diversifying funding sources, and maintaining a reserve for bank covenants. The Company’s financial transparency is very high.
Low leverage and medium coverage. According to ACRA’s calculations, the weighted average ratio of total debt (net of rent) to FFO before net interest and after rental payments for 2023–2028 will amount to 1.4x, while in 2025, this metric declined to 1.3x. The weighted average ratio of adjusted total debt to FFO before fixed payments for the same period is estimated at 3.1x. According to the Agency’s estimates, the weighted average ratio of FFO before fixed payments to fixed payments for 2023–2028 will be 2.2x.
The very high assessment of liquidity reflects a significant volume of undrawn credit lines, which exceeds the Company’s total debt. In addition, the short-term liquidity considerably exceeds 1.5x. ACRA notes that Lenta has access to capital markets and keeps its free cash flow (FCF) margin above zero, which provides additional support to the rating.
Key assumptions
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Successful implementation of the Company’s strategy;
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Implementation of the investment program as planned.
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:
- Stronger competitive positions amid significant growth of the business size and further diversification of store formats with comparable profitability.
A negative rating action may be prompted by:
- The weighted average total leverage (ratio of total debt (net of rent) to FFO before net interest and after rental payments) and adjusted leverage (ratio of adjusted debt to FFO before fixed payments) exceeding 2.0x and 4.0x, respectively.
RATING COMPONENTS
Standalone creditworthiness assessment (SCA): aa+.
ISSUE RATINGS
There are no outstanding issues.
Regulatory disclosure
The credit rating has been assigned to LLC Lenta 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 LLC Lenta 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 credit rating of LLC Lenta assigned under the national scale for the Russian Federation was published by ACRA for the first time on August 3, 2017.
The credit rating was last published on May 7, 2025.
The credit rating and its outlook are expected to be revised within one year.
The credit rating was assigned based on data provided by LLC Lenta, information from publicly available sources, and ACRA’s own databases. The rating analysis was performed using the IFRS accounting (financial) statements of LLC Lenta as of December 31, 2025.
The credit rating is solicited and LLC Lenta 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 LLC Lenta during the year preceding the rating action.
No conflicts of interest were discovered in the course of credit rating assignment.
