MOODY'S UPGRADES X5'S RATING TO Ba1/STABLE

MOODY'S UPGRADES X5'S RATING TO Ba1/STABLE

Amsterdam, 3 April 2019 - X5 Retail Group N.V. ('X5' or the 'Company'), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE and MOEX ticker: "FIVE"), announces that Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has upgraded the Company's corporate family rating to Ba1 from Ba2. The outlook is "Stable".

Moody's stated that the upgrade reflects X5's strong sales growth, leading market position and solid and sustainable profitability, despite increasing competition in Russia's food retail market and challenging consumer environment.

X5 Chief Financial Officer Svetlana Demyashkevich said:

"We are pleased that X5's strong operational and financial performance and prudent financial policy was positively assessed by Moody's. We continue to deliver on our strategic priorities, while at the same time maintaining comfortable leverage levels and superior credit quality for our debt investors."

Note to Editors:

X5 Retail Group N.V. (LSE and MOEX: FIVE, Fitch - 'BB+', Moody's - 'Ba1', S&P - 'BB', RAEX - 'ruAA') is a leading Russian food retailer. The Company operates several retail formats: the chain of proximity stores under the Pyaterochka brand, the supermarket chain under the Perekrestok brand, the hypermarket chain under the Karusel brand and Express convenience stores under various brands.

As of 31 December 2018, X5 had 14,431 Company-operated stores. It has the leading market position in both Moscow and St Petersburg and a significant presence in the European part of Russia. Its store base includes 13,522 Pyaterochka proximity stores, 760 Perekrestok supermarkets, 94 Karusel hypermarkets and 55 convenience stores. The Company operates 42 DCs and 3,830 Company-owned trucks across the Russian Federation.

For the full year 2018, revenue totalled RUB 1,532,537 mln (USD 24,439 mln), Adjusted EBITDA reached RUB 109,871 mln (USD 1,752 mln), and net profit for the period amounted to RUB 28,642 mln (USD 457 mln).

X5's Shareholder structure is as follows: CTF Holdings S.A. - 47.86%, Intertrust Trustees Ltd (Axon Trust) - 11.43%, X5 Directors - 0.07%, treasury shares - 0.01%, Shareholders with less than 3% - 40.63%.

Forward looking statements:

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not only relate to historical or current events. Forward-looking statements often use words such as "anticipate", "target", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "expected", "plan", "goal", "believe", or other words of similar meaning.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances, a number of which are beyond X5 Retail Group N.V.'s control. As a result, actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of X5 Retail Group N.V. speak only as of the date of this announcement. Save as required by any applicable laws or regulations, X5 Retail Group N.V. undertakes no obligation publicly to release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this document that may occur due to any change in its expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document.

Elements of this press release contain or may contain inside information about X5 Retail Group N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014/EU).