Russian retailer Lenta has posted a 4.0% increase in like-for-like sales in the first quarter of its financial year, with both traffic and basket size increasing in the period.
The group posted retail sales growth of 7.5% for the quarter, to RUB 104.4 billion (€1.28 billion), however its wholesale business was down 16.5%.
Sales Boost
In terms of the group's like-for-like sales performance, retail traffic was up by 2.0% and basket size also rose by 2.0% in the period.
If this year's Leap Day is included, like-for-like retail sales for the quarter were up 5.7%, driven by a 3.4% increase in traffic and a 2.3% increased in basket size.
Lenta operates a total of 380 stores as of 31 March 2020, including 249 hypermarkets and 131 supermarkets, with a total selling space of 1.49 million square metres (up 1.7% on the same period last year).
The period also saw the business completed its redomiciliation by obtaining a permanent certificate of incorporation in Cyprus.
Changed Behaviour
Commenting on the group's first-quarter performance Lenta chief executive Herman Tinga said that while the business had a "good start" to the quarter, customer behaviour "changed significantly" in the second half of March, due to the growing coronavirus epidemic.
"Various measures implemented by the authorities in response to COVID-19 resulted in considerable pressure on our stores as customers stocked up on essential goods," he commented, noting that the business' commercial, logistic and operation teams "responded well" to the challenge.
Tinga also noted that the stocking up of essential goods triggered by the coronavirus resulted in an increase in demand for online grocery purchases, with sales through the group's delivery partners almost tripling in the final weeks of March, compared to the previous month.
"I am pleased with our strong performance in Q1, he commented. "Looking ahead we will face many uncertainties, including further measures the authorities may implement in response to COVID-19, the duration of such measures, continued macro-economic volatility and consequent customer sentiment.
"We are working with different scenarios to evaluate any impact on our operations and performance. And we continue to focus on our cash discipline and operating efficiency.”
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
