S&P UPGRADES OUTLOOK ON X5 BB RATING TO POSITIVE

Amsterdam, 30 January 2020 - X5 Retail Group ("X5" or the "Company"), a leading Russian food retailer (LSE and MOEX ticker: "FIVE"), announces that S&P Global Ratings ("S&P") has changed the outlook on the Company's BB rating to "Positive" from "Stable".

The credit rating agency stated that the main factors supporting the positive outlook on X5's BB rating are Company's leadership in the Russian food retail market, its advanced
e-commerce infrastructure, and sound profitability that will allow the company to strengthen its cash flow generation in 2020-2021.

X5 Chief Financial Officer Svetlana Demyashkevich said:

"I am pleased that S&P have acknowledged the continued positive development of X5's creditworthiness by upgrading the outlook on our corporate rating to 'Positive'. Over the course of the last year we have succeeded at further strengthening our business model and developing X5's innovation capabilities, while also maintaining leverage ratios and borrowing costs at comfortable levels."

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 and the hypermarket chain under the Karusel brand.

As of 31 December 2019, X5 had 16,297 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 15,354 Pyaterochka proximity stores, 852 Perekrestok supermarkets and 91 Karusel hypermarkets. The Company operates 43 DCs and 4,124 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). In 9M 2019, revenue totalled RUB 1,265,130 mln (USD 19,440 mln), adjusted EBITDA reached RUB 95,975 mln (USD 1,475 mln), and net profit amounted to RUB 25,043 mln (USD 385 mln).

X5's Shareholder structure is as follows: CTF Holdings S.A. - 47.86%, Intertrust Trustees Ltd (Axon Trust) - 11.43%, X5 Directors - 0.08%, treasury shares - 0.01%, Shareholders with less than 3% - 40.62%.

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).