OREANDA-NEWS. National Rating Agency has lowered its national scale credit rating on CentrObuv Trade House CJSC (CentrObuv) to ‘BBB+’ and placed it on its Watchlist with indefinite implications. The company’s first-time ‘AA-’ credit rating (that fell into the “Enterprises” section of NRA’s rating list) was assigned on May 29, 2013. It was upgraded to ‘AA’ on July 4, 2014 and affirmed at this level on Mar. 10, 2015.

The downgrade by more than one notch reflects the absence of any official response to NRA’s information requests by the company’s executives and, therefore, CentrObuv’s failure to provide requested financial and operating performance information needed for NRA’s surveillance purposes, as well as the reports of arbitration disputes involving the company and of a creditor’s decision to initiate bankruptcy proceedings in respect of CentrObuv.

That said, NRA notes that CentrObuv has demonstrated a strong financial performance (according to its audited IFRS financials) in the review period, namely, a positive revenue growth, good business efficiency, moderate debt with a comfortable maturity profile and a consistently strong liquidity position. Its borrowing portfolio is diversified by creditor, and there are credit lines opened by leading Russian and foreign banks, most of them unsecured.

NRA’s analytical products, including ratings and the contents of this press release, are statements of NRA’s independent opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to make any investment decisions or conduct any stock market transactions. NRA is not responsible for any results obtained from the use of opinions and/or information contained in this press release.

While NRA has obtained information from sources it believes to be reliable, NRA does not guarantee that this information is perfectly correct, complete and accurate, as it does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.