Wholesale giant Metro AG has reported a 5.2% increase in sales in the first quarter of its financial year, despite a cyber attack that impacted the business during the period.
Total sales were up 6.6% to €8.1 billion, while adjusted EBITDA reached a total of €465 million.
Metro said that the cyber attack it experienced impacted its sales in the 'low three-digit million euro range', while EBITDA was impacted in the 'mid to high two-digit million euro range'.
Metro said that its growth was driven by the successful implementation of its sCore growth strategy, which resulted in gains across all sales channels – store-based business, delivery, and its Metro Markets arm.
The company also 'successfully defended' its market share in the HoReCa business in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. With the exception of Russia, all segments contributed to growth.
'Growth Momentum'
"Our growth momentum continues and, despite the cyber attack, we have consistently driven the implementation of the sCore strategy in the first quarter of the new financial year," commented Steffen Greubel, Metro chief executive.
"Metro is growing in all channels and all segments except Russia, we defend market shares gained and the hospitality industry shows growing confidence for the current year. Moreover, we are observing strong progress on our strategic key performance indicators."
In December 2022, Metro signed an agreement to sell its Indian business, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
Performance By Segment
In Germany, reported sales in the quarter increased by 3.5%, thanks to the implementation of the sCore strategy and the introduction of a volume-based pricing system having a positive impact.
Reported sales in its West segment increased by 3.9%, with France, Italy, and Spain contributing to its performance. The loss in sales from the closure of the Belgian business was partially compensated by the first-time consolidation of AGM Markets in Austria since May 2022.
Reported sales in the East segment grew by 8.9% in the quarter, despite the counteracting effects of the Turkish and Ukrainian currencies. The decline in local currency sales was significant, at -14.1%, due to the Russian war in Ukraine and the aforementioned cyber attack.
"In addition to the expansion of the delivery business and our strategic customer sales share, the own brand sales share rose strongly compared to the same period last year," Greubel added.
"With our own brand assortment, we offer our customers high-quality products with a strong price-performance value proposition in a time that is marked by high inflation."
As of 31 December 2022, the store network comprised 628 stores, of which 524 were out-of-store locations, and 64 were depots.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
