Wholesale operator Metro AG has reported a 5.9% increase in currency- and portfolio-adjusted sales in the third quarter of its financial year. Sales in local currency were up 2.5% in the quarter.
The group said that that the quarter was characterised by continued inflation, rising costs and a decline in out-of-home consumption in many countries due to weather conditions.
Adjusted EBITDA for the period came in at €332 million, a decline from €441 million in the same period last year, mainly due to the the expiry of post-transaction effects (primarily Real) and licence revenues from the partnership with Wumei, the group said.
In the first nine months of the year, sales were up 4.1%, to €22.65 billion, Metro noted.
Regional Performance
In its home market of Germany, sales were up 1.9% in the quarter, despite a 'restrained' HoReCa business in April and May, Metro said.
In the West segment, sales were up 1.6%, driven largely by France and Spain, while in the East segment, sales were up 4.2% in local currency – – as a result of negative exchange rates, particularly in Türkiye, reported sales decreased by 8.6%.
In the Others segment, which includes its Metro Markets business, sales nearly doubled, from €31 million in the third quarter of last year to €60 million this year.
'Challenging Market Environment'
“We continued our growth journey in Q3 2023 despite a challenging market environment as well as a strong quarter last year," commented Dr Steffen Greubel, CEO of Metro AG.
Greubel, who recently saw his contract extended for another five years, added that the cash-and-carry operator is growing both its delivery and digital businesses, and is seeing "good progress" in terms of the wholesale transformation of its outlets.
"This includes optimising our assortment as well as expanding our volume-based pricing model ‘buy more, pay less’ and strengthening delivery out of stores," he said.
"The goal is to further develop our stores into efficient warehouses and logistics platforms to ensure an optimal interaction between store-based business and delivery, as well as between stores and depots, and thus achieve our ambitious goals in the delivery business."
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