Russian retailer Lenta has announced that total sales grew by 19.2% to RUB 265.2 billion in 2017, driven by the group's ongoing expansion plans.
Adjusted EBITDA grew 11.8% to RUB 35.5 billion, with a margin of 9.7%, while net profit was up 18.4% to RUB 13.3 billion.
The company opened 40 new hypermarkets and 49 new supermarkets during 2017, bringing its total number of stores to 328 by the end of the year.
Like-for-like sales at its stores were up by 0.9%, driven by a 2.3% increase in average ticket value.
"Once again, Lenta delivered strong growth and profitability in 2017, against the back-drop of a challenging market environment," said Jan Dunning, chief executive officer of Lenta.
"We continued to make progress with improving supplier conditions and supply-chain efficiency combined with strict cost control, although this came in combination with growing promotion share and a deflationary environment."
New Initiatives
As well as its continued store expansion plan, Lenta worked on a number of other initiatives to boost business in 2017.
The company made investments in its product range, service offers, marketing and communication.
The retailer’s loyalty card programme also saw a significant boost towards the end of last year, with a 17% increase in cardholders to 12.3 million.
"We will continue and build on these initiatives as well as driving efficiency still further, improving our competitiveness and the returns on new stores," added Dunning.
"All this, combined with stabilisation of the economy makes us confident that Lenta will be able to sustain strong growth and market-leading profitability in 2018."
In terms of sales, Lenta is currently the third largest grocer in Russia, behind X5 and Magnit.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
