OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2008. The Expert RA rating agency has awarded to the Obuv Rossii Group of footwear companies the B+ rating of creditworthiness. The positive factors that impact Obuv Rossii’s credit status are the company’s substantial credit capability enabling it to borrow funds for business development, the expanded diversification of sources for external financing of its activity through a growing number of bank partners and its own bill program.

The great advantage that Obuv Rossii has is that this group of footwear companies has formed three footwear brands that can capture very wide segments of the market owing their price diversification. The monobrand nature of the holding’s retail marketing network makes it possible to come up with a unique assortment combination of shops with different brands for each target region of their presence. Another advantage of the company is its own production facilities that can quickly respond to fluctuations in consumer preferences”, says Xenia Morozova, Expert RA, the credit ratings sector of the corporate ratings department. The agency considers the following factors as being negative and preventing the Obuv Rossii group of footwear companies from being awarded a higher rating: risks of developing franchise networks, extra costs of mergers and takeovers resulting from entering new territorial markets. Other deterrents were currency exchange risks during purchases of raw material and finished footwear abroad, a considerable increase in accounts receivable owing to the development of the wholesale direction.