Metro Group's profit dwindles nearly 75 %

Turnover slightly lower

The company managed a 32.677 billion euro turnover (- 1.1 %) in the October 2014 – March 2015 period. The drop can mostly be attributed to the Eastern European region, where sales dropped 11.9 % to 6.852 billion euro as the group keeps downsizing its Real network. Exchange rate fluctuations in Russia and Ukraine have also impacted the group’s performance.

In Germany and Western Europe, sales grew 0.9 % and 1 % respectively to 13.623 and 9.953 billion euro. Asia and Africa were responsible for another 2.248 billion euro of turnover. On a like-for-like basis, Metro’s turnover would have grown 2.2 % over the first six months.

Media Markt and Saturn have increased their joint turnover 4.8 %, thanks to a 25 % online sales increase in the first six months. Their online sales now represent 0.9 billion euro or 8 % of the group’s total turnover. All other brands have seen a drop in sales (in euro): Galeria Kaufhof dropped 1 %, while Metro and Makro dropped 3.1 % together. Real even dropped 9.9 %.

Net profit dropped

Financially, the profit from day-to-day activities have dropped from 814 million to 418 million euro. Net profit even dropped 242 million to 62 million euro, thanks to a 450 million euro devaluation of its Real portfolio.

For its full fiscal year, the group (with some 2,200 stores in 30 countries) expects to get a slight turnover increase, despite the challenging economic situation.