Wholesale giant Metro has posted a 1.0% increase in like-for-like sales in the first quarter of its financial year, however there was a mixed performance across many of its key markets.
Metro's Germany business posted a 0.3% like-for-like decline in the period, which was offset by a 0.5% like-for-like increase in Western Europe, and a 5.0% increase in Eastern Europe.
Metro's Russian business, meanwhile, continues to weigh on group performance, reporting a 5.3% like-for-like sales decline for the quarter.
Asia was up 3.2% on a like-for-like basis, the company added.
Reported Sales
Reported sales were up 2.2% across the group, to €7.5 billion, supported by positive currency effects, while EBTIDA (excluding earnings contributions from real estate transactions) stood at €526 million, down from €530 million a year earlier.
“In the first quarter of 2019/20 Metro reached a sales and EBITDA development within our expectations," commented Metro chief executive Olaf Koch.
"We increased our reported sales by 2.2%. Eastern Europe and Asia remain sales drivers for METRO and our customer target groups HoReCa und Trader are also continuing to develop very positively."
Discontinued Operations
The group said that like-for-like sales at its discontinued operations, including the hypermarket business Real, were up 0.6% in the quarter.
Earlier this week, Metro announced it had reached a commercial agreement with a consortium comprised of The SCP Group and x+bricks, over the sale of its hypermarket operation.
Looking ahead to the remainder of the financial year, Koch added, "Based on a strong year-to- date like-for-like sales growth well within the guidance range, we confirm the outlook for the financial year 2019/20."
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
