German Metro group almost achieved the same turnover in the fourth quarter as last year. This means recovery was (so far) smoother than expected.
Positive evolution
Comparable sales in the fourth quarter ended only half a percent lower than last year at Metro, after wholesale deliveries to the hotel and catering industry started to increase significantly again. The German company talks about a strong trend improvement in all regions, although the current tightening of the corona measures is likely to put an end to this trend again.
In the fourth quarter of the broken financial year, turnover amounted to 6.5 billion euros, and to 25.6 billion euros for the year as a whole. For the year as a whole, this represented a decrease of 3.9% without currency effects. Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe in particular – which together account for more than half of revenue – showed positive revenue development towards the end of the year.
Transformation completed
On the other hand, Western Europe, with the exception of the German home market, showed a continuing negative trend: over the year as a whole, turnover fell by 10.6%, while sales in Asia fell by 7%. Nevertheless, CEO Olaf Koch believes recovery is going better than expected: the wholesaler has been able to gain significant market share in its core business and is pleased to see growth again in Russia.
With the exception of the third quarter, in which COVID-19 struck hard, the CEO looks back “on a stable and resilient financial year, in which the transformation to a pure wholesale business has been completed”. For the whole financial year, Metro now expects to be at the top of its forecasts, both in terms of revenue and gross profit.
