Standard & Poor’s affirms Maxima Grupė credit rating at BB+ with revised negative outlook

The international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s reviewed Maxima Grupė’s operations and financial performance and affirmed that the retailer retains its solid BB+ credit rating with outlook revised from stable to negative.

The confirmation of the rating primarily reflects Standard & Poor’s view that Maxima Grupė’s strong creditworthiness remains supported by the business' resilience and sound market position amid competitive headwinds and COVID-19-related setbacks. Maxima Grupė has already posted strong operating performance in the first half of 2020 which should remain positive going forward despite the challenging market landscape, supporting the deleveraging prospects.

Meanwhile, the revised negative outlook reflects Standard & Poor’s anticipation that despite resilient operating performance in 2020 increasing competition in Latvia and Estonia and global macroeconomic uncertainty can create volatility in earnings and profit margin causing Maxima Grupė to deleverage slower than initially expected.

The BB+ credit rating was assigned to Maxima Grupė in July 2018. The assessment opened up new opportunities for the company in the international capital markets – in 2018 it successfully placed a 300-million-euro issue of 5-year bonds.

Contact person:
Vitalij Rakovski
 „Maxima grupė“, Chief Financial Officer
[e-mail]