Germany: Metro increases sales
With regard to operating earnings, the company reported a growth in the second quarter despite continued high investments into customer services and prices: EBIT before special items increased by 2.5% to € 314 million(2011: € 306 million).Owed to the burdens from the 1st quarter, operating earnings for the first half came in at € 305 million following € 452 million year-on-year. "We have picked up speed despite the headwind: our focus on sustainable growth is paying off. Meanwhile, we are already seeing first positive effects on earnings. This encourages us to continue on the path taken", said Olaf Koch, Chairman of the Management Board of METRO AG."We remain convinced that we can achieve an EBIT roughly at the prior year's level".
To this effect, METRO GROUP will consistently continue with its cost reduction initiatives and focus even stronger on like for like growth. In recent months, the sales divisions have developed and implemented numerous measures to improve customer value. These include in particular more customer-oriented assortments, the extension of customer advice and service offerings as well as select investments into prices. The company also made progress with regard to delivery sales at Metro Cash & Carry, which grew by more than 40% to over € 1 billion (H1 2011: € 733 million). Also in terms of own brand sales, METRO GROUP reported a continued strong growth: the company generated sales of € 3.6 billion following € 3.2 billion last year. Sales in the promising online business climbed - also on account of the acquisition of Redcoon - to € 328 million (H1 2011: € 54 million).
From January to June 2012, METRO GROUP grew its sales by 2.0 % to € 31.5 billion (H1 2011: € 30.9 billion). In local currency, sales even went up by 2.2% year-on-year. In the 2nd quarter, sales climbed by 1.8% to € 15.8 billion (Q2 2011: € 15.6 billion) despite the shorter Easter business. Compared with the first quarter, the positive price effects in food retailing have in some cases weakened significantly, however.
In Germany, H1 sales grew by 1.7% to € 12.0 billion. International sales generated during the period from January to June 2012 rose by 2.2% to reach € 19.5 billion. The international share of sale thus notched up from 61.8% to 61.9%. In Western Europe (excluding Germany), sales declined by 1.7% to € 9.6 billion; this is mainly owed to the divestment of the French business activities of Saturn. Adjusted for this effect, sales came in slightly above the prior-year value. Sales in Eastern Europe grew by 2.5% to € 8.2 billion. In local currency, sales climbed distinctly by 5.4%. The region Asia/Africa continues to be by far the fastest growing region of METRO GROUP. Sales soared 27.0% to € 1.8 billion.
Source: www.4-traders.com
