Germany’s Metro Group has posted a 0.6-per-cent increase in like-for-like sales in its second quarter of the financial year.
In Germany, the retail group saw a 1.1-per-cent increase in like-for-like sales (and a 1.7-per-cent increase in reported sales) to €5.4 billion.
Its EBIT for the first half of the year stood at €1.21 billion, which includes gains from the sale of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam last year.
“Metro Group has recorded consistently positive operating improvements over the past few quarters, in spite of the challenging economic conditions. The second quarter seamlessly continues this development,” said Olaf Koch, its chairman.
Metro Cash & Carry increased like-for-like sales by 0.3 per cent in the first half of the year, while at its Real hypermarket operation, reported sales were down 2.8 per cent, to €3.9 billion. However, Real’s online business grew by 60 per cent, to €37 million, in H1.
Commenting on its performance, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research said, "The headline good beat actually conceals a very strong beat at the operating companies (€65m vs consensus of €25m), although note that 2Q is the smallest quarter, so one must think in terms of a FY EBIT of ~€1.5bn, rather than a percentage beat or miss."
"Metro reiterates FY guidance of a slight increase in EBIT (ex-FX), which should reassure some after a slightly weak prior quarter. There are no new angles to the recent announcement of the split of the group into separate food/consumer electronics businesses."
© 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.
