Lenta’s third-quarter 2024 IFRS net profit rose seventeenfold year on year to RUB 4.36 billion, Vedomosti reported on 28 October, citing company disclosure. The retailer in Russia recorded revenue of RUB 210.9 billion, up 55.1%.
- EBITDA was RUB 16.982 billion, up 2.4 times, with an 8.1% margin.
The previous quarter’s performance
In its 29 July 2024 report, Interfax recorded second-quarter sales of RUB 211.6 billion. The results included Monetka from 2 October 2023. Like-for-like sales rose 14.6%, with the average basket up 9.1% and traffic up 5.1%. EBITDA reached RUB 16.7 billion, with a margin of 7.9%, compared with 4.5% a year earlier. Net profit was RUB 7.4 billion, against RUB 103 million. At 30 June, net debt was RUB 92.46 billion and the net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio 1.7, against 2.8 at the end of the previous year.
The transaction behind the enlarged network
Vedomosti reported on 17 October 2023 that Lenta had bought 99.999% of RM Group, the business behind Monetka. The transaction covered 2,120 stores, five distribution centres with more than 116,000 square metres and over 560 vehicles. The acquired stores had 606,000 square metres of selling space, all leased. Lenta used its own resources and additional borrowing; the purchase price was not disclosed. The company said Monetka would retain its brand and separate legal entity, and that the acquired business would enter consolidated reporting from October 2023. The acquisition therefore had its own completion and reporting timetable.
A separate decision on the previous year’s loss
On 3 July 2024, Interfax reported that Lenta’s annual shareholders’ meeting had decided to use RUB 4.6 billion of retained profits from previous years to cover the 2023 loss. The company would not pay a dividend. Its updated strategy stated that achievement of strategic objectives under the dividend policy would precede dividend payments. Shareholders also elected a six-member board and decided not to pay board remuneration. They appointed Group Finance to audit Russian-accounting-standard statements and CTR–Audit Services for IFRS statements. This was the earlier annual meeting’s allocation and governance decision, dated before the third-quarter results.
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