Germany's Metro Group publishes its fourth quarter results next Wednesday 19 October, and ahead of this release, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research has said that it expects the group to post a positive performance in its hypermarket and cash & carry divisions.
Barclays said that it is likely that Metro Cash & Carry will post positive like-for-like sales 'for the thirteenth consecutive quarter at +0.1%. We forecast a small negative LFL number in the Horeca segment (-0.5%), which represents however a respectable performance given the demanding basis of comparison (4Q15 +1.6%) and the numerous headwinds in countries like France (bad weather conditions, negative tourist flows, terrorist attacks).'
At its Real hypermarket division, Barclays believes that Metro will post a 'LFL sales growth of +0.5%, marking a rebound after the -3.5% decline in 3Q. This performance is respectable in the continuing tough German food retail sector and tends to suggest that the store remodellings at Real are gaining traction among German customers.'
It added that Media Saturn's sales 'may be softer than initially expected'.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
