The German retailer Metro ended the first three quarters of 2013 with a decrease in turnover. The difficult economic situation in many parts of Europe, the unfavourable exchange rate swings, but also the sales of the Easter European shops of food product chain Real have pushed down the turnover. It decreased between January to September by 2.2 percent to 46.3 billion Euro, reports the German website derhandel.de.
The group, which includes the Metro Cash & Carry wholesalers, the Real supermarkets, the electronics subsidiary Media-Saturn and the warehouse chain Galeria Kaufhof, had already predicted the decrease in turnover. The company will present the full company figures on the 12th of December. Metro wants the fiscal year, which was identical to the calendar year until now, to start in October from now on. This would mean that the important Christmas period would be in the first quarter.