Earnings up for Metro
The Dusseldorf-based retail and wholesale firm was in line with outlook with EBIT before special items of 1.73 billion euros and sales growth adjusted for portfolio changes and currency effects of 1.3%. According to the company, the considerable improvement in earnings at Media-Saturn made a significant contribution to this development.
Further, METRO GROUP strengthened its financial foundation by significantly lowering its net debt by 736 million euros. In addition, a dividend of 0.90 euros per ordinary share will be proposed to let the shareholders participate in the positive development of business at the Annual General Meeting.
For fiscal 2014/15, METRO GROUP expects adjusted for currency effects and based on current Group structure to see a slight rise in overall sales, despite the persistently challenging economic environment. In like-for-like sales, METRO GROUP foresees again a slight increase that will follow the 0.1% gain in the reporting period 2014/15.
Further, it projects EBIT before special items to rise - adjusted for currency effects - slightly above the 1.73 billion euros achieved in financial year 2013/14, including usual levels of income from real estate sales.
Source: nasdaq.com
