Lenta Announces Management Changes

St Petersburg, Russia, 27 January 2023:  Lenta (LSE: LNTA, MOEX: LENT), one of the largest retail chains in Russia, today announces the appointment of Vitaly Valkov as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Mr. Valkov assumed the role on 26 January 2023 and reports directly to Lenta’s CEO Vladimir Sorokin.

Prior to joining Lenta, Vitaly Valkov spent 18 years at X5 Group, working in leadership roles ranging from Commercial Director at Perekrestok and Pyaterochka to Chairman of X5 Group’s Commercial Committee.

Mr. Valkov graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics with a degree in Automated Data Processing and Management Systems.

Lenta’s previous CCO, Dmitry Bogod, has been appointed Chief Transformation Officer. In this capacity, he will be responsible for Lenta’s transformation, including the development of new business streams.

Vladimir Sorokin, Lenta CEO, commented:

“I am delighted to welcome Vitaly on behalf of the Company’s Board of Directors and management team. As Lenta looks to improve its customer propositions further at both hypermarkets and small-format stores to address today’s customer needs, I am certain that Mr. Valkov’s vast experience in retail commercial management will help Lenta to continue working on its champion proposition and strengthen our position in Russia’s food retail.  

I would like to thank Dmitry Bogod for his contribution to the Company’s development and his willingness to accept a new important position. As Lenta’s CCO, he played a key role in defining Company’s strategic objectives and laid a solid foundation for our future growth. Together with the highly professional team that he built, Mr. Bogod successfully implemented many significant initiatives that were unique to Russia's retail. The new role presents Dmitry with the challenge of accelerating the Company’s transformation and taking Lenta to the next level by developing existing and prospective business streams. 

Undoubtedly, these changes to Lenta’s management team will help us to accomplish our strategic objectives and remain committed to our mission.”

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About Lenta

Lenta IPJSC (LSE: LNTA, MOEX: LENT) is a leading Russian multi-format food and FMCG retailer. The company operates hypermarkets, supermarkets, and recently launched a new proximity store format under the brand Mini Lenta. It also provides customers the option to shop online via its own Lenta Online services, Online Partners and the Utkonos platform. Lenta is Russia’s largest hypermarket operator and the fourth largest food retailer overall by Sales. The company was founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg and as of 30 September 2022, operated 254 hypermarkets and 557 supermarkets and Lenta Mini stores in over 200 cities and towns across Russia, with almost 1.78 million square meters of Selling Space. The average Lenta hypermarket has approximately 5,500 square meters of Selling Space, the average Lenta supermarket has 800 square meters, and the Mini Lenta format is 500 meters on average. The company operates 14 distribution centers to supply all its stores. 2021 Revenues were RUB 484 billion (approximately USD 6.5 billion).