OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings says in a new report that Russian food retailers are facing pressure on their sales growth and margins from increasing competition and weakening consumer sentiment in 2H15.

The largest chains will better cope with these challenges and continue consolidating the market through accelerated store roll-outs and more competitive price propositions than smaller chains and traditional retailers

The publication explores the impact of weakening consumer sentiment and strengthening competition among Russian food retailers on their operating metrics in 2015. The report also analyses changes in credit metrics of the largest retail chains in 1H15, focusing on weakening interest cover metrics. The dashboard provides the agency's view on how the ratings of X5 Retail Group N.V. (BB/Stable Outlook), Lenta LLC (BB-/Positive) and O'Key Group S.A. (B+/Stable) may be affected by expected developments in credit profiles.

The "2H15 Russian Food Retail Dashboard" is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'.