Ceconomy reports better results than expected

For the fourth quarter of the financial year that ended September 30, 2020, MediaMarktSaturn’s parent company Ceconomy AG reported a significant growth in sales with better than expected results. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, sales rose by 7.6 percent; year-on-year, sales even rose by 9.8 percent. According to a press release, the sustained demand for home office products and household appliances contributed to this development, as did the growing online business, which recorded an increase by 54 percent in the fourth quarter. Thanks to a higher average value per pruchases and increased conversion rates, the brick-and-mortar sales were also positive, Ceconomy said, adding the frequency in the stores had recently leveled off at around 15 percent below the previous year’s level.

For the entire financial year, there was only a slight decline in sales of 2.8 percent to 20.8 billion euros, despite the fact that stores were closed by the authorities for more than six weeks; ddjusted for currency and portfolio effects, the decrease was 1.8 percent, like-for-like 1.4 percent.

In its online business, Ceconomy recorded an increase of 44 percent to 4.2 billion euros for the 2019/2020 financial year; this represents 20.2 percent of total sales. According to the company, more than six million new web shop customers have registered throughout the group. In contrast, sales in the Services & Solutions division fell by around 8 percent year-on-year to 5.4 percent of total sales, mainly due to the store closings and the corona pandemic.

Ceconomy’s adjusted EBIT reached EUR 230 million,a decrease decrease against the result for the 2018/2019 financial year (EUR 423 million) due to, among other things, the drop in brick-and-mortar sales in April and May caused by the pandemic, a negative margin development and higher delivery costs.

“We have successfully managed this unprecedented time and ended the financial year better than expected”, said Ceconomy CEO Bernhard Düttmann- „The crisis has prompted more people to make their lives at home more productive, entertaining and enjoyable. We are the go-to-destination to satisfy these needs. This is well reflected in our strong online performance and the recovery of stationary sales since the end of the lockdown. Obviously, uncertainties around COVID-19 and the wider economic outlook remain. Our focus now lies on continuing to offer customers a safe and pleasant shopping experience during the upcoming peak season. We enter the coming months with